Texans think big. Big business. Big sky. Big Bend. Big games. Big hair.
We can be loud at times, and boisterous, and a little bit overly competitive, especially when it comes to our football and barbecue and our heroes like Davy Crockett and Shaquille O’Neal and Willie Nelson and Walter Cronkite.
We’re bold and brassy, but we have big hearts and big plans, and we know how to put on a big time, and that’s what we will do in Big D in November — host the biggest, baddest high school journalism shindig in memory. It will be a celebration of everything Dallas and Texas and, most importantly, scholastic journalism, whether it’s produced in Hawaii or New Hampshire or Hidalgo, Texas.
In addition to the more than 300 instructional sessions presented by local media stars like Dale Hansen and Brett Shipp of WFAA-TV and by scholastic journalism legends like David Knight and Bruce Watterson, the convention will offer opportunities for a barbecue lunch at the famous Fort Worth Stockyards and a visit to the George W. Bush Presidential Library and Museum.
It all kicks off with a Thursday-night Texas-style pep rally that showcases special convention T-shirts customized with your state’s name. Then, it’s two full days of instructional sessions, presented by outstanding advisers from across the country as well as “Featured Speakers” such as Pulitzer Prize-winning photojournalist John Moore of Getty Images, Wade Goodwyn of National Public Radio, Jenny Dial Creech of the Houston Chronicle and Kurt Eichenwald, contributing editor for Vanity Fair.
We’ve also organized three specific subject-area strands that focus on commercial and fine art photography, social media and data journalism and former state and national Journalists of the Year.
As for fun, we’re planning a Friday-night dance that will begin with lessons on how to two-step and do the Cotton-Eyed Joe and will end with a black light extravaganza. On Saturday night, students will be treated to an amazing “Night on the Texas Thrillway,” featuring games, live music and a nine-hole mini golf course.
And one more thing: Texans have big hearts, so we’re inviting everyone to participate in “The BiG Give,” a special fundraiser for the Student Press Law Center, so start collecting now to help support this vital defender of student free speech.
It all adds up to this: Everywhere you and your students turn, you’ll find something bigger, bolder and better, all of which is geared to helping you return home with bigger ideas, bolder goals and better ways to achieving them right off the bat.
So, when we say “Go BiG,” we mean it. Join us in Big D in November for the biggest, baddest, boldest national high school journalism convention ever.