Manhattan High’s “The Mentor” and “The Blue M” staffs attended the Kansas Student Press Association conference on Sept. 23, busing to the Kansas State Union early that morning.

The KSPA conference, an annual conference that took place this year in Lawrence at the University of Kansas, Manhattan at Kansas State University and Hays at Fort Hays State University, is a series of sessions and brief seminars in which student journalists from schools across the state are educated on journalistic topics by educators and professionals from various areas of media.

Junior Madeline Marshall, News Editor of “The Mentor,” explained that the KSPA conference is highly beneficial to the quality of MHS’s staff bonds and publication quality.

“The KSPA conference allowed people to branch off into the different aspects of newspaper and yearbook that they were interested in and more deeply explore said topics,” Marshall said. “I feel that it allowed people to become more interested in what they’re doing and work harder to create quality publications.”

According to sophomore Angie Moss, Photo Editor of “Blue M” and Business Manager of “The Mentor,” this year’s KSPA conference was interesting and provided helpful new information.

“I learned a lot of cool things about photography, and I learned how culture changes can affect advertising, which I thought was interesting,” Moss said. “I think the conference was a good experience overall.”

During the conference, both “The Mentor” and “Blue M” publications were critiqued by KSPA Executive Director Eric Thomas, giving the MHS publication staffs a better idea of how to continue improving the quality of their products.

“I think what benefitted the staff most was the critique because it was done by someone who knows what they’re doing and was able to provide applicable advice that we could start using right away,” junior Greg Woods, Sports Editor of “The Mentor,” said.

Senior Kristen Batson, Editor-in-Chief of “The Mentor,” attended a session called “45 Tips in 45 Minutes,” taught by former KSU yearbook adviser Linda Putney, and found it eye-opening to new methods with which she could bring her staff together in order to create the best publication possible.

“I feel like even though the session was not intended specifically for editors, I took a lot away from it because she had a lot of really good tips on how to bond your staff and make them grow stronger,” Batson said. “The more bonded and united your staff is, the better quality your publication will be.”