Students at CSPA were interrupted at 10 pm on Tuesday at group discussion with breaking news. They had to attend press conferences, which were planned and conducted by instructors and counselors.
“This sounds cruel but I love seeing the look on their faces when big news hits.” counselor James Harvey said.
All the students assembled themselves to figure out what their assignments were.
They were asked to make their way back to the classroom where they split up into groups and competed against each other for to the latest news. Tweets were sent every time someone uncovered new information. Each group was required to write a story.
“Well there goes my sleep.” CSPA student Jake Cohen said the moment he heard he would have to rush to a late night press conference. “I was the tweet master.” Cohen says he was the fastest “tweeter” in his group.
The press conferences revolved around playful scenarios, for example, Donald Trump decided to buy the Dodgers stadium and turned it into a Raiders stadium. He also announced he was running for presidency.
Sarah Palin, Barrack Obama, and Joe Biden also announced that they were running for president
According to Sarah Palin, when a competitor dropped out of the presidential race, she invited them to support her in her efforts to win.
“I knew this was going to happen. The girls and I were talking in our dorms the night before. We heard the counselors mention it a few days ago so we knew something was up.” CSPA student Blessing Jee said.
Saba Hamedy is a CSPA counselor who once was a student at the conference. According to Hamedy, she enjoyed the press conferences and even played a president candidate’s representative. “It was fun being on the other side of the press conferences.,” she said.
“It was an amazing experience. I really learned that I have to stay on my toes at all times.” student Zack Rosenfeld said.
Each counselor and instructor acted as a political character. Harvey prepared for his role by researching before hand. “I was Mitt Romney. It was cool to play a character.”
Rich Hammond is an instructor and CSPA graduate. When he attended, his class was the first to embark on the press conference assignment. Now he helps with the activity each year. He described the activity as an “outrageous simulation of what you might encounter in real life.”
According toHammond, the activity is important because it teaches people how to work together and how to process a lot of information in a short amount of time.
CSPA student Aneesa Andrabi liked the activity for this reason. “It was nice being able to work with people because you get to pull your ideas together.” Andrabi said.