ORONO ? More than 100 aspiring high school journalists on Wednesday received firsthand advice and guidance from journalist and author David Lamb.

“I never planned my life at all to be a journalist,” Lamb told students Wednesday at the Maine Center for Student Journalism conference held at the University of Maine.

The 1962 UM graduate, who is best known for his 30-plus years of war coverage, including the Vietnam War, the Rwanda massacres, and the war on terror in Afghanistan, was the keynote speaker for the conference. Lamb, who was nominated eight times for a Pulitzer Prize, also has written several books, including “Vietnam, Now: A Reporter Returns,” and “The Africans.”

“Dare to travel a road that hasn’t been traveled,” he told students.

Lamb encouraged his audience to take risks and not to be afraid of a challenge, but he told them most importantly not to embark on a journalism career if they didn’t have the passion for it.

“I have never woken up a single day in my life bored and said, ‘Damn, I’ve got to go to work today,'” Lamb said.

He also gave students tips on what makes a good writer. In addition to a love for telling the who, what, when, and why, writers need to have an appreciation and understanding of the world around them.

“Journalism isn’t about yourself,” he said. “It’s about everything else.”

After Lamb’s presentation, the students from 11 Maine high schools attended workshops on a variety of topics, such as feature writing, copy editing, and photography.

“It’s always wonderful to see so many enthusiastic high school students,” Shannon Martin, a UM professor and one of the event’s organizers, said. “It’s an asset for the state to have a conference like this.”