On March 21 and 22, students from the Fanscotian and the Scotch Plains Fanwood High School Yearbook attended the 95th annual Columbia University in New York City for the Columbia Scholastic Press Association conference. The conference, which was attended by various high school newspapers and yearbooks from across the country, offers students and advisors the opportunity to take workshops on a wide array of subjects to improve their publication. SPFHS students attended three workshops on Wednesday and four on Thursday, and had a chance to explore the area around Columbia during their lunch break. The Columbia campus itself also gave students a taste of college life — taking class in real classrooms where lectures would be taught.
 
The staff of both publications had the opportunity to choose from a wide array of different 45 minute classes including those that centered around leadership, graphics, how to write better headlines and taking photos for both the yearbook and school newspaper.
 
Students and advisors both were able to walk from the two day field trip with new ideas and skills to put to the test in their classrooms.
 
CSPA also hosts awards where different publications are recognized for their outstanding publications. High scoring publications from the year prior were displayed on tables for students to browse through on Wednesday and Thursday, with the award ceremony taking place at the end of the conference on Friday.
 
Overall, CSPA was a great learning experience for students and advisors alike in order to improve upon and be recognized for the hard work of both the SPFHS Yearbook and the Fanscotian.