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CSPA is affiliated with the Graduate School of Journalism at Columbia University in the City of New York.

About 300 newspaper and yearbook students congregated on Furnald Lawn near Columbia's Lerner Hall at 9:15 on the hot and humid morning of Wednesday, June 25.

They found their 15 pre-assigned groups as leaders called out their group numbers.

When the leaders had accounted for everyone, they worked in shifts to lead the masses to the subway. Students attempted to keep in touch with their mini-packs.

"It was like a fish being caught in a current," said Kyle Chan, a newspaper editor at the Chadwick School in Palos Verdes, Calif. "I wasn't really sure where I was going. I just followed everyone around me."

The trekkers descended the stairs, swiped the MetroCards they had received from their leaders, passed through the turn styles and became immersed in New York's underground world: the subway.

The train approached with a roar and a distinct breeze as it slowed to a stop.

Students commented on the ride downtown calling the subway "awesome" and saying they loved "the speed and all the people."

Doors opened and the journalists flooded into the near empty cars.

"Next stop 42nd Street," the electric speaker finally blared, and the groups rushed out, up the stairs to Times Square and a news conference with actors at B.B. King's Blues Club and Grill before going on to a performance of Urinetown: The Musical at the Henry Miller Theatre at 124 West 43rd St.

At the restaurant, students walked down a couple of flights of stairs and sat at tables near the stage, at booths along the sides or at a second level of tables surrounded the room. Sight lines were clear, and the sound system worked well during the news conference with five cast members.

After the news conference, the restaurant served a buffet-style lunch of chicken, pasta, salad, fruit juice, soft drinks and dessert including scrumptious chocolate cake.

David Shieh, another newspaper editor from Chadwick had attended the workshop last summer as well. He said the restaurant "was a great place to have the press conference-more vibrant than the one last year before 42nd Street, with better food."

The atmosphere on the day trip was positive, students said.

"I like that CSPA trusts us enough to give us responsibilities so that we know that this is our money and our time," said Venessa Williams, a literary magazine editor at A.W.Dreyfoos School of the Arts in West Palm Beach, Fla. "We have to make the most of it and treat it more like a job than schoolwork."

Peter Bartlett edits The Mainsheet at the Chadwick School in Palos Verdes, Calif. Kelli Saelee edits the Warrior's Word at Wausau West High School in Wausau, Wisc.

Max Gilbertson and Jason Wang of The Mainsheet contributed to this story.