In the hot blistering heat of July, members of the Trailblazer newspaper staff attended the 2013 communications workshop at Texas A&M University sponsored by Balfour Publishing Company.

Truth be told, the entire workshop was a fun experience. The college was big enough to get lost even with a map and the people there were friendly. The newspaper teachers were enthusiastic and funny.

The newspaper sequence instructors assigned projects to work on while doing daily newsworthy stories. I had entered the project with Miles Nicholas, Sarah Han and Shannon Steidel in hopes of staff bonding and having a fun time. We did the Multi-Media project where we were to convey the same news story in multiple ways.

It was hard coming up with an idea, so we decided to tour the university in hopes for any ideas. The football stadium was closed, but the Memorial building held some interesting things. There were art galleries and little historical frames. What caught my attention was the little photographic display called A&M: A Frame of Mind. I was truly smitten and thought why not use the University as the foundation of the project?

We interviewed college students to learn about the inside life and took video of random places at A&M. While recording other’s experiences we had our own. Like how cold the dorm rooms can get at night, or how good the food tastes. The place felt like an actual camp, the cabin in the woods kind. The place was big enough to explore and make memories.

Using everything we saw, learned and liked, we incorporated it in our project. I was really proud of the project and my team. So when they announced our name as first place at the awards ceremony I couldn’t have been happier.

Working hard and being determined paid off as we brought back the trophy to school. Memories like this make me want to go to these workshops more often.