Kelley Tuthill from WCVB-TV after her presentation at BU

By Laura Holguin

Staff Writer

On May 6th, a group of Ghostwriter staff writers and editors and various students from other schools all around Massachusetts took a field trip to Boston University for the New England Scholastic Press Association’s 63rd annual conference. It included multiple workshops that students could attend to get a better understanding of the various types of fields communications has to offer.

Students and advisors Janet Fonden, Kyle Kucaj, and Jack Holbrook left at 7AM on May 6 to arrive at the Boston University College of Communications by 8:30 AM. After getting acquainted with the area and building, the students split up to go to workshops of their choice.

Workshops varied from what it is like to study journalism in college, photojournalism, how to run a web publication, site design, staffing, standards and many more. Workshops were held in classrooms of the college and others took place in the auditorium, which lasted 50 minutes.

Workshops were taught by Boston University students, faculty, and other professors and students from all over Massachusetts. Some presentations included power points, article examples, etc. After, presenters answered whatever questions the audience had.

In between the workshops students went to the Morse Auditorium to hear Kelley Tuthill from WCVB-TV who was the keynote speaker. Tuthill talked about telling stories with impact, and she later showed examples of stories that she covered that made an impact on her.

Tuthill presented stories of a Cancer patient whose came to Boston from China to give birth to her son. She was later diagnosed with breast cancer and only had one wish to see her parents she hadn’t seen in 6 years. With the help of WCVB-TV, the woman was granted her the opportunity to reunite with her parents once more.

Another story Tuthill presented was one of a woman that was stuck in her burning house, with Shirley police to arrive 8 minutes after the call was taken place. The woman, whose children got out safely, burned over 60 percent of her body. Tuthill covered the woman’s struggle after the fire and the problem of local fire departments not arriving soon to emergencies.

Tuthill presented these stories that gave the audience a perspective of what the victims of these stories have experienced. Whether it is a saddening or happy story, any story can be told in a way to leave an impression with the audience.

The weather was nice in Boston that day which allowed students to walk around the area for lunch for an hour after Tuthill’s presentation. After, students went to attend their last workshop which led to the All-New England Awards. Waghostwriter.com received an award for Highest Achievement in Online Class 1 Newspapers.

The awards ended the NESPA’s 63rd Annual Conference at 2:30pm, and after students headed back on the bus and returned at Westford Academy at 3:30pm.