From Oct. 12-14, 12 Cypress Ranch journalism students participated in the annual Texas Association Journalism Educators convention located in San Antonio, Texas. More than 500 student journalists across the state from around 60 campuses attended the TAJE convention and competed in on-site competitions and submitted prior work for awards. Cypress Ranch won six awards total, earning the most awards out of the CFISD schools that attended.

The campus’ first winner of the conference was sophomore Erin Moultry. Moultry received an honorable mention in the Headline writing category. “I was a little shocked that I won anything because I didn’t think I did that well,” Moultry said. “I was also the first name to be called from Ranch so I was caught off guard a bit. My favorite memory from the entire trip was staying in Reilly and Mia’s room until curfew and playing Uno and dancing to ‘Ghostbusters’ and  ‘I am Alive’ on Just Dance.”

Senior Chris Choi participated in the digital photography and portfolio competition. The digital photography consisted of five categories such as: Taste of San Antonio, Best Rizz, Peak Action, Big Feelings, and Student Journalism. Each competing student had to take photos in a preset timespan at the convention and submit by the deadline to be considered. 

Choi was awarded in two out of the five digital photography categories and awarded honorable mention for his portfolio of prior work. He received an honorable mention in “Peak Action” as well as an excellence award for “Taste of San Antonio.”

“I did expect to win Taste of San Antonio because I went over and beyond for that photo,” Choi said. “I asked the managers of the fast food restaurant for behind-the-scenes photos, so I went to the back so I took photos through the back window where chefs work. It reminded me you have to take risks, and you have to try your best and find a shot that no one else will think about and go over and beyond. I cooked taking a photo of someone cooking.” 

Choi shared his favorite memory outside of the competition. 

“I surprisingly met the cast of Cobra Kai, and that is just something I won’t ever forget,” Choi said. “I finished rewatching the show two months before the trip, so seeing them randomly at the River Walk was so shocking yet fun and unexpected. I got to take a photo with my favorite character Johnny Lawrence.”

In addition, Senior Noah Hawkins shares his experience. Hawkins participated in the group photo scavenger hunt with team Mia Lewis, Baylee Scalisi, Ryan Pape and Reilly Grant-Charles. 

“Looking for Marriage Island in the scavenger hunt just to find out we were walking circles around the whole time was my favorite part of that for sure,” Hawkins said. 

He said two of the highlights from the trip included an impromptu worship session outside of the mall and attending trivia night at the Convention Center. 

“Worshiping on Sunday outside of the mall and getting to support a traveling organization, @IQthefamily, was so fun,” Hawkins said. “Also, [I enjoyed] when I won a bet during Trivia Night with my dear friend Mia Lewis. She was forced to drop into a full split in the middle of a full conference room of around 200 people. For my first year going, I’m overjoyed with how it went, I couldn’t imagine it going any better than it did and the memories really speak for themselves.” 

Journalism teacher and yearbook adviser Liza Leonhardt said she enjoyed making memories with everyone to last a lifetime.

“Seeing everyone bond and getting to have those experiences together was really important,” Leonhardt said. “I personally learned a lot from this experience, and I am already starting to implement what I have learned, so it was definitely worth it.”