Twenty-four Daily Collegian staff members skipped a day of classes last fall to visit USA Today, the Newseum and the nation's capital.
A chartered bus left the Collegian at 7 a.m. Friday, Oct. 27, 2000, and headed to Arlington, Va., home of USA Today.
"We decided to offer this trip because we wanted to better the students' involvement with some fun things to do," Business Adviser Candy Heckard said.
Students were welcomed into USA Today by Communication Coordinator Nicola Faustino, who guided a tour through the national/international and sports newsrooms, as well as the photo and graphics rooms.
Faustino's tour showcased many interesting pieces from the paper's history, including a large replica of the first edition. USA Today launched this first edition Sept. 15, 1982, and featured a story about Princess Grace's death.
Faustino also emphasized that USA Today is ready for the future. She showed a wall of graphics, caricatures and stories about the lives and careers of people who are still alive and earmarked to be inserted at the time of their death.
"I know these people are still alive," Faustino said. "But, as a newspaper, you're always ready for news."
Following the tour, students went their separate ways for lunch. Many took advantage of the time and toured the Newseum, an interactive news museum across the street from USA Today.
Visitors of the Newseum are able to see current news stories come together on a video wall that spans the length of a city block. The museum also offers multi-media exhibits and news memoribilia. The group met at 1 p.m. for the bus trip to Washington, D.C. The students split up again and visited many sites of interest.
The most popular sights were the Smithsonian, Ford's Theatre, Holocaust Memorial Museum, White House, Lincoln Memorial, Washington Monument, National Archives, Internal Revenue Service and Federal Bureau of Investigation.
Two Collegian members were videotaped by a French televison station "being American" while eating at a deli.
Heckard, News Adviser John Harvey and six current staff members met with 1999-2000 Editor in Chief Stacey Confer and other Collegianaires for dinner.
On the trip home, the group watched an appropriate movie: The Paper.
