On Friday, November 15, several members of our staff attended Bismarck State College’s (BSC) second Content Creators Summit made for local high school students interested in a career in different types of creative media. 

Matt Wurnig was the first keynote speaker who also had a question and answer (Q&A) session that afternoon regarding his successful media creation of “50 dates 50 states.” This includes the two seasons he has created of him going on a date with a woman from every state of the country. His session was the favorite of junior Kennedy Petyrsyn, a Century writer who attended the convention. Petryrsyn said this event was “the most relevant and relatable for what I want to do in content creation.” During his starting presentation, he describes the struggles and uprising of his project from disappointments to being invited on Good Morning America with his top four dates of the second season. He ends this part of his presentation with words of advice: “Lots of things fall through. Don't let it discourage you.” 

A few of us also took part in “Sports and Television: The Perfect Pair” with BSC Digital Media and Video Design Manager Dusty Anderson. Inside the Mystician office, he talked about his experience working at his first Monday night ESPN game explaining that he “never saw a single play but was still a part of the team.” Anderson concluded the session with conveying all the work that goes into a sports broadcast. To a student with an interest in sports broadcasting, this session might be beneficial but not to a student like Petryszyn, who is not interested in sports beat writing. “It was just not relevant to what I want to do and my interests," said Petryszyn. 

Another event that a couple of us chose was the “Reporter Round Table” session that included a Q&A with local news reporters led by Amy Dalrymple, editor-in-chief of the North Dakota Monitor. They started with each describing their role, whether it be in the Bismarck Tribune, North Dakota Monitor, or an out-of-state publication. Personally, I enjoyed this session because of their engaging takes within their articles and their openness for any questions students had regarding a career or degree in journalism. Junior writer Mercedes Vanover said, “It gave me a view of how to get into various areas of the field and what to look for when getting into it.”

We had the choice for four sessions with several other event options including a podcast crash course, educational sessions on topics such as Adobe Photoshop and legal rights of student media, and more. The event had a break for lunch provided by BSC with a student media panel discussion and the day ended with a Q&A with media professionals sharing career information. Another Junior writer who attended, Keeley McCrory, explained, “I think it was fun and something different” but would rather be in classes instead of getting behind in her school work. Petryszyn, however, would “100% go back and listen to different people speak and teach about their careers.”