Three Lemont Students Qualify for IHSA Journalism State finals

Three Lemont High School students finished among the top three in their respective categories at the IHSA Lewis University Sectional, qualifying them to compete at the 2012 IHSA Journalism State Finals, which will be contested at the Buzzard Building on the campus of Eastern Illinois University on Friday, April 27. All of the qualifiers - seniors Charmaine Balisalisa, Madeleine George and Ryan Peraino - will be making their state finals debuts and hold leadership positions on the staff of the Tom-Tom, the school’s newspaper.

George serves as the Tom-Tom’s Photo Editor and also is a features writer. She finished as the runner-up in the Feature Photography category at the IHSA Lewis Sectional.

A Tom-Tom Assistant Design Editor, Balisalisa also collected a runner-up finish at the sectional, placing second in Info Graphics.

Peraino, who fills the role of the Tom-Tom’s Sports Editor, was third in sectional competition in the Newspaper Sports Writing competition.

The IHSA Journalism State Finals includes competitions in 16 categories, with students being asked to meet a different challenge in each competition. The top three finishers in each category from seven IHSA Sectionals advance to compete at the IHSA State Finals.

Balisalisa, George and Peraino were not the only Lemont students to perform well at the IHSA Lewis Sectional, as four others placed among the top six in their respective categories to earn the school points in the team competition. Senior Ian Stratta was fourth in Broadcast News Writing; senior Maribeth Van Hecke was fourth in Editorial Writing; senior Mallory Christine was fifth in Review Writing; and junior Laura Harding was sixth in News Writing.

The Tom-Tom primarily is published online, and each issue is available for download from the school’s Web site, www.lhs210.net. To view past issues of the Tom-Tom, visit the school’s Web site, and choose ‘Newspaper (Tom-Tom)’ under the “Student Activities” tab. Lemont’s Journalism advisor is English teacher Sean Clark.

This marks the fourth straight year that at least one Lemont student has qualified to compete at the IHSA Journalism State Finals. Brianna Smith ‘09 became the first student in school history to qualify for the event in 2009; Rachel Colant ‘11, Janelle Fennessy ‘11, Annie Fox ‘10, Taylor Thanos ‘10 and David Timm ‘10 all were state qualifiers in 2010; and Brittany Baldwin ‘11, Katelyn Bittke ‘11, Gregg Husa ‘11, Kelly Lyons ‘11 and current senior Morgan McPartland all qualified in 2011.