Photograph by Robert Scheer
Young journalists Katrina Pagonis (left) and Roxanne Varteressian attended a journalism conference in Washington, D.C.
By Tim Persyn
When Saratoga High School student Katrina Pagonis wasn't busy earlier this month asking the press secretaries of U. S. senators about human-rights violations and prayer in school, she was visiting the Saudi Arabian embassy, staking out Newt Gingrich's apartment and stopping by Bob Dole's office to say hello.
It was all in a week's work for Pagonis, who with fellow student Roxanne Varteressian attended the Washington Journalism Conference April 9-14 in Washington D.C.with some 350 high school students.
Pagonis and Varteressian were nominated for the conference by Saratoga High journalism adviser Kerry Mohnike. "I pick students who love journalism or who have shown extra effort in terms of the journalism program at the school," she said.
Pagonis' trip to Washington included editing a student publication, attending seminars headed by professional journalists, interviewing members of Washington's political community, and seeing sites around the city.
Varteressian also worked on one of the conference's student newspapers. Her activities in Washington included writing an article on the keynote speech delivered by Jill Dougherty, White House correspondent for CNN, and interviewing Joel Starr, press secretary for Rep. Tom Campbell.
The regimen was hectic: Conference participants woke up as early as 5 a.m. and kept moving until curfew at 11 p.m. In case the students started slacking, an "A-team" (Advance Team) made sure they stayed on track.
The 16-year-old Pagonis, who has an interest in politics, attended seminars on reporting on the Pentagon and covering Capitol Hill, sat in on the session with Dougherty and on another with Morton Kondracke of Roll Call, and even asked a tough question of James Fallows, the Washington editor of Atlantic Monthly.
Her question to Fallows addressed the media's influence on foreign policy. "I asked him if it was right for the media to portray communism as evil," said Pagonis. "He said the media was justified. It bothered me that he said Communist powers are inherently bad."
Varteressian said her interview with Starr may have changed her career direction. "Before the conference, I thought I would do journalism, but now I think I'll do public relations," she said.
She commented on why public relations interests her. "Starr's job is to make sure Campbell is represented fairly. Being that type of liaison interests me."
As an editor of one of the conference's student newspapers, Pagonis and her team had one and a half hours to lay out and edit each of the three four-page issues they published. The last issue was the most trying.
"The computer crashed and we lost our center spread. So that issue was a two-pager," she said.
At home in Saratoga, both students work on Saratoga High's student magazine, The Eclipse.
Pagonis' writing interests lean more toward poetry than journalism, but she said her experience at the conference whetted her appetite for working as a journalist in Washington. She was able to visit the press gallery of the U.S. Senate, where she talked to a journalist who covers the legislative chamber.
"I learned that reporting on Capitol Hill would be something I would be interested in," she said. "You're out there finding out what's happening--you're on your toes."
The influence of the media also interests her. "The media plays such a great role in how the public perceives Congress. It's a position of power."
This article appeared in the Saratoga News, May 1, 1996.
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