RHMS journalism students win statewide award
Rocky Heights Middle School digital media and yearbook students attended the Colorado Student Media Association’s Journalism Day on the campus of CU Boulder. RHMS came home with the All Colorado yearbook award for 2023-2024.
Rocky Heights Middle School (RHMS) yearbook students won the All-Colorado award in the yearbook category at the Colorado Student Media Association (CSMA)’s Journalism Day (J-Day), held at CU Boulder. The yearbook met the criteria for reaching all the benchmarks for an exceptional product.
In addition to the prestige for the RHMS students, the All-Colorado designation “involves a detailed critique that gives students professional feedback and suggestions to improve the yearbook the following year,” said RHMS digital media and yearbook teacher Scott Melanson.
CSMA membership is open to middle and high schools and the standards for winning can be attained by any school in Colorado; therefore J-Day is competitive for all students in journalism statewide. The CSMA competition focuses on journalism in all its forms and the award criteria are the same for every school, not dependent on school size or education level.
“They couldn’t wait to run up and get the award,” Scott said. “In their enthusiasm, our students were sent back to their seats by security for letting anticipation get the best of them.”
RHMS is in the CSMA yearbook hall of fame, a distinction earned by producing All-Colorado level work for six out of seven consecutive years. With their strong yearbook tradition, RHMS hoped for Best-In-Show award but lost to high schools this year.
J-Day offered a real-world occasion to get students out of the classroom and into new learning opportunities; students heard from national news correspondents and reporters as well as journalism educators with more than 40 years of experience.
Also, the students got a taste of college life while exploring the CU campus, learning from professors and touring CU’s broadcast and journalism facilities.
“It is amazing and I am so happy to have CMSA put this on every year in conjunction with the University of Colorado,” concluded Scott.
RHMS students are well prepared for the next level: Rock Canyon High School also consistently meets top standards in journalism.
By Celeste McNeil; photo courtesy of Scott Melanson
