The 2020-2021 journalism team was announced as members of the All-State Journalism Staff on Sept. 22. To receive the honor students are required to earn 50 points  by competing in multiple practices and competitions throughout the year.

“I am very excited that the entire team was able to make the All-State Journalism staff because they very much have a team mindset,” journalism coach Neda Morrow said. “It’s important to them not just to win individually but for the whole group to win.”

Last year students on the team accumulated different individual scores with graduate Caroline Phillips at 50, senior Marlee Sorrells at 52, junior Kylie Hester at 68, senior Jesika Miller at 78, senior Lian Boone at 89, graduate John Park at 90, and senior Vivian Lehmann at 237. 

“I was very excited when I got on the staff and when I found I got a huge amount of points I was even more overwhelmed,” Lehmann said. “I love going to the meets, especially the overnight ones and I loved hanging out with everyone on the team. I really hope I will be able to do as well as I did last year.”

The team works year round practicing in and out of school and competing in both virtual and in-person competitions. They compete in five different events: headline writing, copy editing, editorial writing, news writing and feature writing.

“When I found out that we all were on the All-State journalism staff I was very excited,” Hester said. “My team and I have a great bond and all of us work very hard and our efforts were definitely put to good use.” 

The benefit of the award is it allows them to put it on resumes, scholarships, and college applications. The first competition for the new 21-22 team will be a virtual meet in October. 

“The outlook for this year is strong,” Morrow said. “Both the new students and the returning members are very motivated to win. They want to practice and they are going to do whatever it takes to get past district and regionals and get to that state championship.”