Staffers of the Patriot Post, Spotlight Yearbook and Patriots TV packed their bags and set off from the 2500 building to Orlando Wednesday, April 2. 213 miles later, they arrived at the annual Florida Scholastic Press Association (FSPA) convention held at the Renaissance Seaworld Hotel April 2-5.
Patriot Post and Spotlight Yearbook staffers were surprised by an evening at Dave and Busters along with the Heritage broadcast team, Patriots TV. “It was so much fun, I really enjoyed the arena game I played because it was interactive and gave me the opportunity to hang out with friends,” sophomore Heidi Klink from Patriots TV said. Starting off with fun and excitement gave students the chance to enjoy some time off school and get ready for an eventful and busy FSPA convention.
The FSPA convention began with the opening ceremony at 2 p.m. April 3, where Student Chair Maddy Baczek of Oviedo High School introduced the theme for 2025, On the Bright Side. “FSPA goes through changes and so do your publications, but we must highlight the bright part of it,” Baczek said. Following her, FSPA President Joanie Webster pointed out the new hotel and new people, while also mentioning there were over 1,500 people in attendance.
At the end of the opening ceremony, the On-the-Spot Contest prompts were released and staffers got to work. Patriot Post writers participated in numerous categories such as news story, opinion column, feature writing, photo story and short story while the Broadcast staffers filmed and edited videos for their contests.
After a long, hard, busy day, everyone submitted their work, and it was definitely a rewarding feeling. “It felt like such a big accomplishment, and it is cool to realize that professionals outside of my school will read my work,” freshman staff writer Uma Hedge said.
However, through the busyness and stress, still came the opportunities to learn. Friday April 4, starting at 9 a.m. each staffer attended different workshops to gain insight from other student journalists and professionals. “My favorite workshop was ‘Navigating the journalism industry as a young female writer,’ because it gave so much insight on how to use my unique perspective on my stories,” Hedge said. Sophomore Alex Ngo attended a workshop about writing scripts and short films, something he’s interested in. “The speaker had us voice some of her script pages and create ideas for our own films,” Ngo said.
That night, everyone got a break and celebrated at the banquet hosted at 6 p.m. where President Webster announced Journalists of the Year and Artist of the Year. Then, students attended the dance and appreciated the final moments of the convention. “I liked the way they ended the convention with a fun event. I think the same goes for all of FSPA, too. They just had a lot of student activities and contests you could have fun with,” freshman Daniel Harper said.
Dancing the night away led to the closing ceremony, Saturday morning April 5 where the On-the-Spot contest awards were announced and the Executive Board made their final thank you’s.
The Patriot Post left FSPA with 60 awards, and there is one person to thank in particular, Ms. Diana Adams, their adviser. This was her 27th and last FSPA Convention, and staffers couldn’t be more grateful. “Ms. Adams has been a huge part of my time in high school. I’ve been in her class since freshman year and she has inspired me as both a person and a journalist,” senior Print Editor-in-Chief Zoe Horwitz said.
To end a successful FSPA trip, the Patriot Post visited Universal Studios. Staffers rode popular rides from Hagrid’s Motorbike to the Hulk.
Here is the list of awards Patriot Post staffers have received:
Roma Agarwal – Honorable Mention Poetry
Jaiden Bomar – Excellent Opinion Page/Spread and Honorable Mention Animal/Pet Photo
Olivia Chung – All Florida Review Writing and Honorable Mention Short Story
Emma Colarte Delgado – Online Journalist of the Year Finalist, All Florida Animal/Pet Photo, All Florida Non-Student Personality Portrait (x2), Excellent Commentary-Off-Campus, Excellent Quick-Turn Photography Challenge, Excellent Entertainment Feature Story, Honorable Mention Non-Florida Nature Photo, Honorable Mention Feature/Student Life Photograph and Honorable Mention Animal/Pet Photo
Ella Colarte Delgado – Best of the Best All Florida Editorial Cartoon, All Florida Poetry, Excellent Commentary-Off-Campus and Honorable Mention Short Story
Camila Doerffler – All Florida Poetry and Honorable Mention Non-Florida Nature Photo
Nina Goncalves Vieira – Honorable Mention Animal/Pet Photo and Excellent Non-Florida Nature Photo
Daniel Harper – All Florida Entertainment Feature Story, Excellent Opinion Page/Spread, Honorable Mention On-the-Spot Feature Writing, Honorable Mention Non-Student Profile, Honorable Mention Sports Profile and Honorable Mention Feature Page/Spread
Uma Hedge – Excellent Commentary-Off-Campus (x2)
Madeline Hernandez – All Florida Quick Turn Literary Magazine Spread
Zoe Horwitz – Second Place Journalist of the Year, Sport Journalist of the Year Finalist, All Florida Commentary Off-Campus, All Florida Entertainment Feature Story, Honorable Mention Feature/Student Life Photograph, Honorable Mention Sport News/Feature Story, Honorable Mention Academic/Organization Photograph, Excellent Feature Page/Spread, Honorable Mention Short Documentary, Honorable Mention Feature Page/Spread and Honorable Mention Sports Game Coverage
Arsh Lalani – All Florida Poetry, All Florida Quick Turn Editorial, Best of the Best All Florida Short Story and Honorable Mention Sports Profile
Yechang Liu – Best of the Best All Florida Hand-Drawn Illustration, Excellent Opinion Page/Spread and Honorable Mention Feature Page/Spread
Sadie Loughlin – Honorable Mention Sports Profile and Honorable Mention Sports News/Feature Story
Aiyana Luk – Honorable Mention Yearbook Academics Spread
Zain Masood – Excellent Opinion Page/Spread
Adiya Mukhitdinov – Excellent Quick-Turn Photography Challenge, Honorable Mention Entertainment Feature Story and Honorable Mention On-the-Spot News Story
Alex Ngo – Excellent Quick Turn Fiction and Illustration and Honorable Mention Short Story
Alina Sukhovskaya – 2025 Artist of the Year, All Florida Computer Drawn Illustration, All Florida Hand-Drawn Illustration, Honorable Mention Newsmagazine Cover and Honorable Mention Editorial
Cara Xie – Honorable Mention Entertainment Feature Story, Honorable Mention Audio Podcast and Honorable Mention Feature Page/Spread
(Graphic/Emma Colarte Delgado)
The Patriot Post girls enjoy their pregame meal before playing arcade games. Left side bottom to top: freshman Roma Agarwal, sophomore Adiya Mukhitdinov, senior Zoe Horwitz and senior Jaiden Bomar. Right side bottom to top: junior Alina Sukhovskaya, senior Emma Colarte Delgado and freshman Uma Hedge. (Photo/Alina Sukhovskaya)
To become a better publication, Vice President Ben Langevin critiques the Patriot Post and tells them what’s good and what they can improve on. “It helps us learn from our mistakes and grow,” freshman Roma Agarwal said. (Photo/Ms. Lara Herrera)
Everyone gets dressed up for the banquet and prepares their feet to dance all night long. First photo left to right: seniors Jaiden Bomar and Zoe Horwitz, sophomore Adiya Mukhitdinov, freshmen Uma Hedge, Roma Agarwal, Aiyana Luk, senior Emma Colarte Delgado and sophomore Kylie Tirado. Second photo left to right: sophomore Alex Ngo, senior Zain Masood, freshman Daniel Harper, junior Arsh Lalani, freshman Aiyana Luk, sophomore Adiya Mukhitdinov, freshmen Uma Hedge and Roma Agarwal, senior Emma Colarte Delgado, sophomore Kylie Tirado and seniors Zoe Horwitz and Jaiden Bomar. Third photo left to right: freshman Daniel Harper, junior Arsh Lalani, senior Zain Masood and sophomore Alex Ngo. (Photos/Ms. Lara Herrera)
Print Editor-in-Chief Zoe Horwitz receives second place Journalist of the Year and is thankful for the person who helps her get to this spot. “I was so glad to receive this award, but receiving it at both of our last FSPA’s made it even more meaningful,” Horwitz said. (Photo/Adiya Mukhitdinov)
The Hulk is known as a crazy and intense ride, and freshman Aiyana Luk definitely agrees. “It was so much fun; it was definitely my favorite out of every ride I went on and I knew where the camera was so I posed for it,” Luk said. From left to right: freshman Aiyana Luk, senior Zoe Horowitz and freshman Uma Hedge. (Photo/Universal Hulk Coaster)
It isn’t only students who get to have fun. Advisers Mrs. Lara Herrera and Ms. Diana Adams enjoy their time together at Hogwarts. (Photo/Ms. Lara Herrera)
