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2009 All-State Team

Eight members of the 2009 All-State Journalism Team were honored Saturday, June 6 at the Executive Mansion in Springfield. From left: Gabriel Bump, University of Chicago Laboratory School; Danielle Schuck, Elk Grove HS; Jordy McNamara, Adlai Stevenson HS; Mandy Facer, Urbana HS; Dan Bolsen, Lovington HS; Laura Kraegal, John Hersey HS; Jimmy Hibsch, Rolling Meadows HS; Marina Shawd, Belvidere North HS. Other members are Molly Williams, Harrisburg HS and Margaux Henquinet, Prospect HS. Photo by Randy Swikle

2009 All-State Journalism Team recognized at Governor’s Mansion

Ten Illinois high school newspaper/yearbook staff members were been named to the 2009 All-State Journalism Team sponsored by the Illinois Journalism Education Association.

The All-State Journalism Team recognizes those students who have proven themselves to be indispensable to their respective school media. Illinois has several journalism contests that recognize individual “bylined” excellence. This award recognizes those students who are “most valuable players” — those students whose leadership, energy, dedication and expertise help define their publications.

Members of the team this year come predominantly from high school newspapers. Student journalists in grades 9-12 from all media are eligible to be nominated by their advisers, who must be members of the IJEA. Nominations may not exceed two students per school.

Each member of the All-State Journalism Team received a plaque and was honored June 6 at a banquet in Springfield, sponsored by the Illinois Press Foundation and IJEA. The IPF works closely with IJEA to help provide leadership and resources for journalism students and their advisers in Illinois high schools.

Dave McKinney, Springfield Bureau Chief for the Chicago Sun-Times, gave the keynote address. He was introduced by IPA’s interim director Don Craven.

Daniel Bolsen is the sports editor and editor-n-chief of the Panther Prints newspaper at Lovington High School. At a small school, you often have to it all, and Bolsen does because he has a passion for journalism. He reads several area newspapers each day and handles tough news stories when they arise. He writes stories, designs pages, teaches the design software, assigns stories ... the list goes on. And he does it all on his own time as newspaper is an outside activity. His samples included a story on an alumnus, one of his columns and a page he designed. He is advised by Carol Smith.

Gabriel Bump is a senior at University High School in Chicago, serving as one of U-High Midway's five editors-in-chief. Gabriel's work as someone who develops content and mentors the staff is admirable, but his work with his in-depth reports soar, especially his piece on youth violence in Chicago. His writing is sophisticated and his approach is thorough and thoughtful, combining solid facts and statistics with the human element. His samples included the series on youth violence in Chicago and a sports column about Chicago, Omaba and the city's bid for the Olympics. He is advised by Wayne Brasler.

Mandy Facer started as a volunteer or The Echo newspaper of Urbana High School who started writing movie reviews, wanted feedback and always met deadlines. She quickly became adviser Heather Snapp's most valuable staffer. She often writes up to three stories an issue, but not all she contributes is credited with a byline. She demonstrates being a team player by tracking down names, taking last minute photos and helping other staffers with their stories. A staff writer, her samples included a team-reporting effort on mock elections and a story on the annual yearly progress report.  

Margaux Henquinel is a copy editor for The Prospector newspaper at High School. She routines reads numerous drafts of stories for all sections and gets the stories back to the writers in a timely fashion, She gives feedback, identifies missing sources and unexplored angles and does that for all drafts. She is tough without being mean, and the staff responds positively to her. She never makes excuses; she simply gets the job done. She also writes articles, often earning top classroom honors for them.  Her samples included a staff editorial on the election and on falling asleep in class. In addition, she also demonstrated how she copy edits stories. She is advised by Jason Block

Jimmy Hibsch is the co-editor-in-chief of The Pacer at Rolling Meadows High School. Making his second appearance on the All-State team, Hibsch inspires his staff. He works with younger staff members to help them improve their writing while he models the energy and spirit vital to encourage them to work harder, too. And he helps his staff see content in a larger context. As a result, the paper now covers both the school board and the district administration, which has helped increase readership. His samples included a piece on the 50th anniversary of the Our Lady of the Angels and soccer team's cancer awareness.  He is advised by Stan Zoller.

Laura Kraegel is the editor-in-chief of the Correspondent newspaper at John Hersey High School. She was the one left in the newsroom to revamp pages for breaking stories or to agonize over potential troublesome stories ... and lose sleep in the process. She has had to work outside her comfort zone, but she does not disappoint, creating photos, podcasts and reviews, whatever needs to be done. She gets so excited about the news cycle and equally excited about distributing the final product. And she handles comments or criticism to the paper with professionalism. Her samples included a story on Bill Ayers NOT speaking at her school and math department changes. She is advised by Janet Levin.

Jordy McNamara is the managing editor of content at Stevenson High School. In this role he took care to cover issues of concern for his school, including prescription drug overdoses and recycling. And when it came to fighting for his staff and his adviser, McNamara used his leadership to help them navigate the administration's call for prior review. As the managing editor of content, most of the worry fell on his shoulders. According to his adviser, Barb Thill, “the pros and cons of any story that had the potential to upset administrators were weighed. Jordy ... often ended up playing devil's advocate.” He led his staff with class and professionalism.  His samples included a piece on students sleeping in class and on the economic downturn.

Danielle Schuck is the editor-in-chief of The Guardian newspaper at Elk Grove High School. Schuck is respected by others on the staff for the way she gives feedback , the way she enforces deadlines and keeps others on talk. After each issue the staff holds a discussion on strengths and weaknesses, and she gives honest feedback and motivates them to improve. Additionally, one of her strengths is her balanced and well researched stories written with finesse. Her adviser, Alissa Calabrese , writes: that Danielle's stories “capture the authentic voice of Elk Grove students, as she always remembers to keep the student connection in her stories.” Her samples included a piece on HPV vaccine, on a flag the school received and an opinion piece on pep assemblies.

What a year this has been for Marina Shawd, editor-in-chief of the Equus yearbook at Belvidere North High School. While she come into the 2009 yearbook with a clear theme and a vision for its development, she was thrown a curve when the book went to a web-based production. But Shawd rose to the occasion, meeting all deadlines by creating detailed and consistent templates. She is humble yet moves her staff in a like direction. Her samples illustrate her strong design talent with a cover, opening page and sports spread. She is advised by Mike Doyle.

Molly Williams is a passionate member of the editorial board and the sports editor for the Purple Clarion newspaper at Harrisburg High School. She took the sports position (although she would have preferred news or features) when there were no other volunteers, which is emblematic of the grace with which she does whatever is needed. She helps new staffers, and she often had to take pictures for her section as well.  Her samples included an editorial written to explain her school board's proposals for changes to the prior review policies and one on concussions and the dangers athletes face with them. She is advised by Cathy Wall.

Congratulations to all the IHSA state finalists and winners. The following is a list of the top 10 teams. For a complete list of individual winners in all 15 categories, please go to www.speechwire.com/r-tournament.php?tournid=370.

Fall Conference – Friday, September 25, 2009 “New Voices in the Media”

Dear adviser:

The media world is now in a constant state of evolution. Journalists and would-be journalists are finding purpose and passion in new ways that reach beyond the legacy of a newspaper or television newsroom. While some media outlets struggle to stay afloat, rising from the ashes are new voices in the media and a wider platform for consumers of information. These new voices include bloggers, citizen journalists and innovative collaborations between the public and news entrepreneurs. With that, our keynote panel theme for ISHSPA 2009 is New Voices in the Media.

Moderating the panel discussion will be University of Illinois Associate Professor of Journalism, Eric Meyer. Meyer is author of Tomorrow’s News Today: A Guide to Strategic Planning for Online Publishing. He is a former news photo and graphics editor, assistant news editor and reporter for the Milwaukee Journal and the Bloomington Pantagraph.

In addition, during the three, 50-minute blocks of
individual sessions (9:30 a.m., 10:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m.) topics will be covered to help your students enter this new world of journalism as well as enhancing the essential journalism skills needed in the new media environment; critical and innovative thinking, skilled reporting, designing, copy editing and the fundamentals of digital photography, video, audio and multimedia. We’ll also have sessions on where journalism skills are in demand outside of the mainstream media.

PLEASE NOTE: You can register for the 2009 conference
and get continuing updates on the keynote panel, individual
sessions, parking options, directions and maps
at www.media.illinois.edu/ishspa. Please check this site frequently during the summer months. New information will be added about the keynote panel and the sessions as they are developed. A full schedule will be available on the Web site by early August. I will also send you a reminder postcard in the mail to your school address, unless otherwise requested before Aug. 1.

Also note that our capacity for attendance this year is 600 students and advisers. To reserve your spot at the conference, please register by September 18, 2009. The admission feefor early registration is $12 per person either in advance or at the door. For those who register after 9/18/09, if there is still space available, the cost is $14 per person.

I look forward to seeing you at ISHSPA on Friday,
September 25, 2009. As always your input and suggestions are very much appreciated. Have a great summer.

Lynn Holley,

Executive Director, Illinois State High School Press Association
(ISHSPA)
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign – lholley@illinois.edu

Check out the spring newsletter!!

The Kettle Moraine Press Association is offering both adviser and student summer workshops at two locations this summer: University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, June 24-27 and Northern Illinois University, July 12-15.

• Adviser Workshop: Advisers who attend Summer Workshop — with or without their students — will be in their own core group with instructor Sandy Jacoby, former adviser of NSPA All-American Hall of Fame yearbook at Tremper High School in Wisconsin and currently a JEA mentor. Advisers will also be able to attend the large-group and small-group sessions available to all workshoppers. This workshop is geared specifically to the needs of new advisers (1-3 years experience) and those who are looking for a refresher class to brush up on their skills.

• KEMPA will offer CJE and MJE certification testing at each of these Summer Workshops. Testing will be at UW-Whitewater on June 26 and at NIU on July 14 from 1:30-4 p.m., with a study session preceding the test at 12:30 p.m. The exam is for any JEA member. Attending the workshop is not a prerequisite. For an application and study guide contact JEA Headquarters, Kansas State University, 103 Kedzie Hall, Manhattan, KS 66506-1505, e-mail: jea@spub.ksu.edu or go to the Certification page at the Web site: www.jea.org . Call (866) 532-5532 for more information about certification. You must register with JEA in advance to take the certification test for CJE or MJE at this time and location. JEA will let me know that you are planning to attend. But if you have specific questions about the location, please contact me at Lbarring@wi.rr.com .

• Student Workshop: Photojournalism, Yearbook, Newspaper and Web Design classes are taught by experienced advisers and career professionals. Cost: $350.

• Newspaper class taught by Stan Zoller, CJE, former career journalist, now adviser of Pacemaker finalist newspaper at Rolling Meadows High School in Illinois

• Yearbook class taught by Nancy Becker, CJE, former adviser of NSPA All-American Hall of Fame newspaper and yearbook at Milton High School in Wisconsin, currently a JEA mentor.

• Photography class taught by Joe Koshollek, photographer at the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel and Hank Koshollek, former photographer at Madison’s Capital Times and recipient of JEA’s Friend of Scholastic Journalism award.

• Web Design class taught by Ken Miller, graphic design instructor at UW-Madison and recipient of an award from the Society of Professional Design for his redesign of the Wisconsin State Journal.

For further details, go to KEMPA's website: www.KEMPAonline.com

Eight scholarships are available through the Illinois Press Foundation for the annual KEMPA/NIU journalism workshop July 12-15. Apply today.

Summer Journalism Workshops Monday-Tuesday July 20-21, 2009

April 25, 2009

Dear adviser:

Once again, Belvidere and Belvidere North high schools are offering you a unique opportunity to be held in conjunction with the Kettle Moraine Press Association, a scholastic journalism organization made up of schools from Wisconsin and much of Illinois. For the second year, KEMPA is offering to bring its top-notch specialized
instruction to our schools for a two-day workshop.

Belvidere North High School was excited to be selected as a site for one of these workshops last year. This year, we will be working with Kathy Jerbi at Belvidere High School to provide a more structured workshop. As the attached information sheet explains, our journalism day camp will be held Monday-Tuesday, July 20-21. On Monday, the 20th, a newspaper workshop will be held at BHS; on Tuesday, the 21st, a yearbook workshop will be at BNHS. On each day, an afternoon photography session will be held. Students can sign up for one of the days for $50 or both for $100. For those costs, students will get one or two full days of instruction on writing and editing, reporting, layout and design and photography. KEMPA will bring instructors with expertise in selected areas. In addition, we have arranged for additional professionals to be part of the camp.

We hope that you will make this information available to your publication staff members and encourage them to attend. Even if you have no staff members who are interested, we would like you to attend at no charge. If you do attend with your students, we would like you to become involved in their instruction.

Both of Belvidere’s high schools are easy to navigate and each has computer labs and open areas. Please contact one of us if you have any questions. We look forward to hearing from you.

Regards,

Mike Doyle, Certified Journalism Educator, National Board Certified Teacher
Belvidere North High School, mdoyle@district100.com
Kathy Jerbi, Belvidere High School kjerbi@district100.com

To reach BNHS, call 815.547.3550 or by cell at 815.298.7188.
To reach BHS, call 815.547.6345, ext. 2112 or by cell at 815.757.0228



Susan M. Knoblauch, Assistant Executive Director
2715 McGraw Drive
P.O. Box 2715
Bloomington, Illinois
61702-2715

M-F 8-4:15 309-663-6377
Fax 309-663-7479
Mobile 309-530-0892
sknoblauch@ihsa.org
www.ihsa.org