Convention Crunch Time

As I've mentioned in a previous post, 8-18 Media has selected two teams of four kids to attend the Democratic and Republican National Conventions. The team heading to Denver, Colorado for the Democratic National Convention (unfortunately, not the team for which Hayley was selected) left today. Hayley's team leaves for the Republican National Convention in St. Paul, Minnesota next Sunday (August 31st).

Planning and briefing meetings were held -- the Republican team will only meet a couple more times next week.
In the meantime, other non-convention-related stories still needed to be completed.
And, as always, Hayley reminds everyone to have fun and not take things too seriously.
The Convention Teams, other members of 8-18 Media, and family members take time out to volunteer for the Seafood Festival. Each year, the Seafood Festival is hosted by the Marquette Rotary West, who donated $500 towards the Convention Teams' costs.
And, finally, press passes and business cards were handed out. (Side note: Although Hayley has reported some of the radio stories, she was actually trained in as an Editor for 8-18 Media. Editors sometimes also do reporting.)
All that's basically left is the packing. We still need to buy a few things for Hayley to pack, plus try to come up with some money -- not just for buying things for the trip, but also to cover costs for meals...and, hopefully, some for her to spend on souvenirs and such. Other than that, she's all set and excited to go. She even gets to miss the first week of school in order to attend the Convention.
She's also excited because she may be the one who gets to use the flip-cam, which was provided by TV6, a local television station. Hayley said both TV6 and The Mining Journal (local newspaper) will post the kids' stories during the conventions on their websites. When I find out what the links are, I will try to remember to post them on my blog. I will also try to post some of the photos and/or video I get from Hayley. She'll be bringing at least one of my cameras with her -- probably the old Nikon Coolpix 885 I picked up at the Flea Market, and the old (crappy) Aiptek IS-DV2. We're not sure if she'll be able to send them to me while in St. Paul, so those may have to wait to be posted until after she returns from her trip.
In the meantime, here is a convention-related story Hayley worked on with two other 8-18 Media members, Maggie and Erin, about a recent mock election (direct link to mp3 file) that was held at Marquette's City Hall.