About 1,750 high school journalism students and their advisers from around Colorado will descend on the CSU campus Thursday, Sept. 27, for the annual J-Day.

The day-long event, hosted in the Lory Student Center each year by the Colorado Student Media Association, features 42 sessions led by guest speakers presenting on a variety of journalism topics.

This year’s J-Day features a keynote address by Mary Beth Tinker, one of the students who wore black protest armbands to school in Des Moines, Iowa, in 1965 to honor those killed in the Vietnam War. The school board tried to block the gesture and suspended several students, including Tinker and her older brother John. But the American Civil Liberties Union took the matter all the way to the Supreme Court, which ruled in 1969 that students in public schools indeed have First Amendment rights.

Tinker, now a retired nurse, has spoken frequently to students around the country about their constitutional rights. The Lory Student Center Grand Ballroom is expected to be filled to capacity for Tinker’s 9:30 a.m. talk.

Other highlights

Jack Kennedy, executive director of the CSMA, says other highlights of the day include presentations by former Rocky Mountain News and Denver Post journalist Tina Griego of the Colorado Independent, photographer Kenn Bisio of Metropolitan State University, Nic Garcia of The Denver Post, Kevin Dale of Colorado Public Radio, and Jeff Browne, executive director of the high school journalism honor society Quill and Scroll.

Dennis Ryerson, former editor at the Indianapolis Star and the Des Moines Register, returns to J Day for a third year, and will speak on “Ethics in the Age of Trump.”

Kennedy said J-Day has attracted a record number of sponsors and exhibitors this year. About 75 high schools from around the state are participating in the event.

The Department of Journalism and Media Communication is in CSU’s College of Liberal Arts.