Eight high school students came together for the first time this May in Phoenix, Ariz., with one goal: figure out what newspapers across the country can do to attract young people to read the newspaper. This wouldn't be the ideal "vacation" for most teenagers, but these seven strangers and I were up to the challenge.

The team: Elliot Butay, Gwendolyn Collier, Amy Friedman, Mercedes Machado, Lily Reed, Jackie Slack, myself and Conor Wigert.

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(Counterclockwise from bottom left) Elliot Butay, Gwendolyn Collier, Mercedes Machado, Amy Friedman, Katlin Stinespring, Lilly Reed, Jackie Slack and Conor Wigert in deep thought following a presentation they gave at a newspaper conference in Phoenix. The teens spent four days in Phoenix as part of the 2008 National Newspaper Association of America’s Young Reader Seminar.

We all met for the first time at the Sheraton Wild Horse Pass Resort on Thursday, May 15. Four of us, however, got a head start in our bonding. We had all arrived early on Wednesday along with our editors, so Elliot, Lily, Conor and I attended an Arizona Diamondbacks game that evening.

For me, this was one of the highlights of the entire conference. Not only am I a huge baseball fan, but I also got to visit a new stadium. The game also allowed the four of us to get to know one another outside of the conference setting.

Despite this, all eight of us met and got to know each other - surprisingly with minimal awkwardness - over breakfast the first morning. Because I was by far the most talkative member of the group, I helped break the ice and introduced myself to the new teens. We all crowded around one table so that we could get to know one another, instead of splitting into smaller groups like the table settings originally suggested.

Our first day consisted of a writing seminar with Dick Weiss, a writing coach who previously worked with teens at the 2006 conference in St. Louis. In addition to improving our writing skills, the narratives we wrote during his seminar allowed us to open up with one another and shed all inhibitions that could potentially block us from bonding.

We were instructed to choose between two topics: when we first knew we wanted to become writers and the hardest decisions we have ever had to make. Covering topics such as suicide, epiphanies, disabilities and our childhoods, our narratives were surprisingly personal, considering the setting and the fact that we were in unfamiliar company. Reading them aloud gave us the opportunity to understand each other's backgrounds and glimpse into our personalities and pasts.

Late Thursday evening, we began brainstorming for our presentation. This encouraged us to consider not only how teens utilize and perceive the paper, but it also helped us realize the newspaper's role for people of all ages throughout the country.

In addition to our brainstorming sessions and discussions, we critiqued various teen publications from around the U.S. We came to the realization that the newspaper as a whole must adapt to the changing times of modern society, from content and appearance to the manner in which it is distributed and the type of media in which it is presented.

Eight high school students came together for the first time this May in Phoenix, Ariz., with one goal: figure out what newspapers across the country can do to attract young people to read the newspaper. This wouldn't be the ideal "vacation" for most teenagers, but these seven strangers and I were up to the challenge.

The team: Elliot Butay, Gwendolyn Collier, Amy Friedman, Mercedes Machado, Lily Reed, Jackie Slack, myself and Conor Wigert.

The task: in less than three days, create a presentation for the 2008 National Newspaper Association of America's Young Reader Seminar and present it to the NAA, Newspapers in Education and Youth Editorial Alliance members attending the conference.

We all met for the first time at the Sheraton Wild Horse Pass Resort on Thursday, May 15. Four of us, however, got a head start in our bonding. We had all arrived early on Wednesday along with our editors, so Elliot, Lily, Conor and I attended an Arizona Diamondbacks game that evening.

For me, this was one of the highlights of the entire conference. Not only am I a huge baseball fan, but I also got to visit a new stadium. The game also allowed the four of us to get to know one another outside of the conference setting.

Despite this, all eight of us met and got to know each other - surprisingly with minimal awkwardness - over breakfast the first morning. Because I was by far the most talkative member of the group, I helped break the ice and introduced myself to the new teens. We all crowded around one table so that we could get to know one another, instead of splitting into smaller groups like the table settings originally suggested.

Our first day consisted of a writing seminar with Dick Weiss, a writing coach who previously worked with teens at the 2006 conference in St. Louis. In addition to improving our writing skills, the narratives we wrote during his seminar allowed us to open up with one another and shed all inhibitions that could potentially block us from bonding.

We were instructed to choose between two topics: when we first knew we wanted to become writers and the hardest decisions we have ever had to make. Covering topics such as suicide, epiphanies, disabilities and our childhoods, our narratives were surprisingly personal, considering the setting and the fact that we were in unfamiliar company. Reading them aloud gave us the opportunity to understand each other's backgrounds and glimpse into our personalities and pasts.

Late Thursday evening, we began brainstorming for our presentation. This encouraged us to consider not only how teens utilize and perceive the paper, but it also helped us realize the newspaper's role for people of all ages throughout the country.

In addition to our brainstorming sessions and discussions, we critiqued various teen publications from around the U.S. We came to the realization that the newspaper as a whole must adapt to the changing times of modern society, from content and appearance to the manner in which it is distributed and the type of media in which it is presented.

Thus, we chose a "past, present and future" theme for our presentation that allowed us to cover the entire spectrum of the newspaper, while still addressing ways it could be improved to attract young readers and be better utilized in the classroom.

Wigert and I tag-teamed on the past aspect of the project, beginning with simple storytelling as the earliest form of journalism and emphasizing how important the print part of journalism is to ensuring that the newspaper is accessible to all readers nationwide.

Working on a strict deadline was intense, and even the minutes leading up to the presentation were tense. About 15 minutes before the presentation, after each of us had presented our parts in a dress rehearsal, the content of my speech was almost completely rewritten to give it a more personal feel.

This was very exciting and somewhat stressful because of the quick turnaround. However, the newness of the speech allowed me to be on top of my game, and because of the substantial changes, I didn't feel overly rehearsed when it came time for me to speak.

Despite all of our hard work and the intensity leading up to the presentation, the eight of us still found time to hang out. We went swimming in the hotel pool several times and visited Rawhide, an 1880s Western town.

At Rawhide, both Conor and Amy tried out the mechanical bull, Elliot beat the magic blackjack dealer in a round of cards, and we all dressed up for an antique group photo. Some of the teens had never even heard of certain aspects of the West or rodeos, such as the mechanical bull or lassoing, and that made the trip all the more exciting and fun.

These activities provided us time to truly get to know one another without fear or judgment. This allowed for immense group bonding that helped us pull through during the stressful deadline period preparing our presentation and calmed our nerves leading up to the presentation.

It also created close, personal friendships that left us all feeling like family when we departed for the last time as an entire group.

Even though less than half the group plans to pursue journalism in the future, this conference provided us with a genuine concept of a journalism career - particularly the intensity and stress of newsroom deadlines.

Through this opportunity, the eight of us gained prime career knowledge and networking skills, improved our writing techniques and even developed friendships that will last a lifetime, all while having fun in Phoenix.