Being a teacher at RIT takes you to interesting places, like the 2008 Columbia Scholastic Press Association Conference in New York City! Last week, Michael Riordan and I (Matt Bernius), headed down to Columbia University to talk with high school students and their advisors about the production of Yearbooks, Student Newspapers, and Literary Magazines.

Columbia University has an amazing campus. Above is a picture of their famed Graduate School of Journalism, which awards the annual Pulitzer Prize. What a perfect location to bring together students from across the country who are excited about publishing in all its forms! While we were there, we gave lectures on color management, solving common printing problems, and how to easily create an online component to your print publication.

Most importantly, we got the chance to meet with a lot of really creative and enthusiastic students and advisors, like this group from Richard Montgomery High School in Rockville Maryland (they produce a terrific literary magazine). Not only did we answer questions and help solve problems, but we also shared information about some possible careers in publishing (and hopefully got them interested in the programs here at RIT).

p.s. If anyone from the conference is reading this, be sure to visit our page about our Summer Publishing Program for High School Students (remember there are scholarships available). Also check out the page on our site where we’ll post our presentations and answers to common publication problems.

p.s.s.  You don’t need to have been to the conference to visit those links. ;-)