Four students brought home first place medals at the Minooka Journalism Invitational on Saturday, Feb. 24, and the team finished third overall.

Senior Allen Garcia medaled in editorial cartooning, senior Tom Klimek medaled in sports writing, senior Dylan Udziela medaled in review writing, and junior Iris Wright medaled in feature writing.
“It was a moment of both surprise  and relief when I heard my name called for first place. I think the competition was close,” Udziela said.

“I’m very proud of how much I’ve improved over the years, and I’m glad that I was able to place,” Klimek said.

There were three second place finishers as well: senior Shannon Tierney in photo storytelling, sophomore Hannah Kopek in Advertising, and the team of senior Kailey Blunk and Garcia in yearbook theme development.
“I am really proud of Allen and I. We have never done yearbook theme development before, and I was surprised that we came out in second as newbies,” Blunk said.

“I’m proud of what I did, but I feel like I could do better, and I’m excited to learn from my mistakes as we move on to other competitions,” Kopek said.

The team is now looking ahead to the IHSA sectional competition on April 21, which will determine if anyone qualifies for state.

“We have a solid team this year, so I expect to have several students qualify, ” Renee Nieckula, adviser, said. “Both Shannon and Iris qualified last year, so they especially have a great shot.”

  Other placers in the Minooka competition include junior Hannah Darbro placing third in broadcast news, Udziela placing third in headline writing, sophomore Abby Blazevic placing fifth in review writing, senior Audrey Nelson placing fifth in photo storytelling, senior Kat Hahn-Boisvert placing fifth in copy editing and copy writing, and senior Stephanie Shields placing sixth in copy writing.