Sarah Jones
Jonathan Gonzalez, editor-in-chief of UHC Press for University Highschool gets ready to hit the runway and debut his staffers' design.
Dozens of staffers piled into the conference center late at night, 40 minutes on the clock, armed only with a t-shirt, scissors, and whatever else they might have on hand.
Monday, July 17, marked the first-ever Camp Orlando t-shirt design contest, where student journalists from Florida to New York competed against each other to create the most unique (and fashionable) design to be reviewed before their peers.
Camp director Adam Livesay announced the results of the design contest before conference-goers at 9 a.m. on Tuesday, July 18, University High School: their t-shirt was modeled by Jonathan Gonzalez, editor-in-chief of UHS Press, who lit up the room with hot pink eyelashes, blush, and eyeshadow as he strutted around the room showing off his staffers’ creations, won the contest.
“God, it felt fabulous… I felt gorgeous… I had to just go around and own it, you know?” Gonzalez said.
Gonzalez’s performance garnered him quite a reputation, with his fans swarming him shortly after his model walk, his popularity among the crowd secured his place at the voting polls. “I thought I would have gone, second or third. But first, it was a surprise to me just because I thought that it would be someone who took their fashion sense very seriously rather than me who took it very ironically.”
Every year, Tracy Feuilliez, Walsworth representative and camp director, organizes a competition to encourage staff to work together and practice teamwork, a value essential to being a part of any publication. At the end of every camp, an evaluation is sent out, and schools are given the opportunity to suggest fun team-building competitions.
“Competitions help to find out what people’s strengths are, see who the leaders are, and just really get to know who you’re going to be working with. And doing something fun and creative because we always want things to be creative and get the creative juices flowing,” Feuilliez said.
The annual contest held on the first night of each Camp Orlando is an event which everyone is welcome to participate. Whether it’s your fourth or first time at camp, the competitions are eagerly anticipated by the staff and advisors. Schools compete to win in order to put their school on the map and be recognized for their design abilities. Many schools came prepared with materials and winning ideas.
Madilyn Larsen from Leesburg High School said, “We’re from Leesburg, which isn’t that big of a school, and so we decided that we’re going to try to bring our A-game, and we planned out our shirts in advance.”
The t-shirt design contest: as the inaugural event of Camp Orlando 2023, set the stage for staffers and editors alike to build a highway of creativity and cooperation necessary to succeed as a publication; in addition to fostering the sense of identity that drives teams to excel and be recognized for their distinction.
“All we really did for this is just provide an extra t-shirt and then you all bring the fun and the excitement and the creativity,” Feuilliez said.