Struthers High School Journalism Class won multiple awards for their articles from the Youngstown Press Club at the start of May.
Students had to decide in March which article they would like to submit to be judged in order to win. Out of all the schools, Struthers had won 1st place for a news article, 1st place for an opinion article along with 2 honorable mentions, 2nd place for a sports article, and 2nd place for a review article. Our website, Student Prints, got 2nd place, and our Journalism Advisor won Advisor of the Year.
Stephanie Mickler, the Journalism teacher, was ecstatic to see her students win.
“I was so proud! It’s nice to see hard work pay off,” says Mickler.
Wesley Jones was one of the winners who got first place for his opinion article. He felt great to see that he won 1st place because he wasn’t really expecting it. He has taken Journalism for two years, and prior to that he had always heard positive things about the class. Trynyty Nail was another winner; she got 2nd place for her sports article. She felt really good about winning, especially since it is her first year taking Journalism. Both students note that their favorite thing about Journalism is the freedom they have when it comes to writing.
Nail recalls a few reasons why she joined Journalism.
“I joined because I like writing. It’s something that’s easy for me, so I took it as an easy class and just to put myself out there,” says Nail.
Mrs. Mickler is the Journalism Teacher at Struthers High School and she won Advisor of the Year. She doesn’t know the deciding factor that helped her win, but she believes it’s due to her great staff and newspaper. She has been teaching journalism for 17 years and can’t pick just one favorite thing about teaching the class. She likes that they get to highlight the great things about our school and great students within our school. She also likes being able to see her students multiple years in a row, as Journalism is one of the only classes students can take all 4 years.
Mickler shares her reaction to seeing all the winners from Struthers.
Mickler says, “I know our writers are skilled, but I was a little surprised that out of all of the schools from the area, we have some of the best.”
Additional winners include: 1st place winner Gianna Bonini in News, Honorable Mentions Maddie Hanna and Leah Markotan in Opinion and 2nd place winner Delaney Painter in Review.
