April 25, 2001
EJH press make headlines
Students earn 16 state interscholastic awards
By LISA PERKINS
Herald staff writer
Traverse City East Junior High journalism students made headlines at this year's Michigan Interscholastic Press Association (MIPA) spring conference in Lansing. The staff of "Told in Black and Gold" earned 16 awards in statewide competition.
"I didn't know what to expect from the competition, but I was very pleased with the outcome, it's a sign we are headed in the right direction," said adviser Jody Mackey.
Earlier in the year Mackey, along with her staff, selected articles to submit to MIPA for award consideration in several areas including sports writing, review and opinion. Some students also participated in an on-site competition, where they wrote an article based on the presentation of a featured speaker.
Ninth-grader Heather D'Aquilla received a second- place award in the on-site portion of the competition where she was the only middle school student among 24 entrants. She also received three first-place awards for submitted articles and six awards in all.
Emmy Parsons received two first-place awards. The eighth- grade student won praise for her feature article on the life of fellow student, Sarah Ruthenberg.
Kalin Wood, an eighth-grade student, received first-place honors for his comic strip "Redwood Mullet Falls."
Harrison Beeby took a first- place award for the sports story he wrote about a top East player who broke his arm during a football game. Ben Berger came in a close second, in the sports writing division, for his story about a dynamic duo on the East basketball team. Anna Egbert earned an honorable mention in the sports writing division.
Eighth-grade student Lyndsey Hjelmstad received first-place honors in the review category.
Kady Bently received a third- place award for a bylined opinion story and Maggie Perkins earned a third-place award for her personality profile of the school liaison officer.
The MIPA also recognized Traverse City Central High School journalism adviser Christine Kurtz with this year's Golden Pen Award, the top honor given to advisers by the MIPA.
Students from Central were also honored during the conference. Awards were given to Micah Riecker, second-place in the sports column category; Forrest Karbowski, third-place for news analysis; Caitlin Prentice, third- place for a bylined opinion and Jeff Johns, third-place for a review. Honorable mentions were presented to Lawain McRae for news/feature photo, Prentice for graphics, Riecker for sports news and Lindsey Sedlar for advertising layout.