Nerves ran high on April 26 as six Wildcat Chronicle staffers’ completed at a state level in Bloomington-Normal, Illinois.
Sebastian Alacron placed fourth in radio news, Dhanveer Gill placed fourth in editorial writing, and Sasha Baumgartner took sixth in news writing. All three are seniors, and students in the Journalism Production class at West Chicago Community High School.
The IHSA state competition, held at Heartland Community College, began at 9 a.m. with a brief opening ceremony. The first block of competitions began shortly after. The TV news and radio news competitions went on the entire time due to the complexities of the competitions. Seniors Brandon Heath and Ryley Salazar, who competed in TV News, were given a demonstration by the Normal, Illinois police department with their drug detection dogs.
“With the allotted time given, it was very nerve racking with having to film, script and edit in under three hours. But going to state was such an awesome experience that I never thought I could do,” Heath said.
Alarcon attended the same demonstration, though competing in a different event.
Writing competitions were held in two different blocks. Baumgartner and senior Michael Birdsell, who competed in review writing, competed in the first block. In the second block, which did not start until 11:30 a.m., senior Dhanveer Gill tackled in editorial writing for the second year in a row. Gill was awarded fifth place at state in the event in 2023.
“I was just trying to be as patient as possible while waiting for competition to begin, and I used a lot of that time to review my previous entries and study off of winning entries,” Gill said.
Before competition, the team took time to bond by travelling to Bloomington-Normal a day early to prepare for the competitions and go out to dinner together.
“Going in, we were pretty confident as a team, and all the bonding we did beforehand helped to ease the nerves a bit. Even though it was kind of a gloomy day, the vibes felt nice and everyone was eager to compete. I am proud of what my fellow journalists have accomplished,” Birdsell said.
Those sentiments were shared by advisor Leslie Fireman, who has overseen the Wildcat Chronicle for the past three years.
“This group of students is truly remarkable. While I am so excited about our wins at state, and incredibly proud of all our competitors, the entire team of journalists is responsible for the newspaper’s achievements this year. They have taken this newspaper to a completely new level, and are holding their own in both state and national competitions. The students in Journalism Production this year have left an indelible mark on the Wildcat Chronicle. All of them better minor in journalism or freelance for their local paper – or else,” Fireman said.