Yearbook staff earns back-to-back state championship title
by Rogie Dorpinghaus
The Saint Francis Journalism department earned their second back-to-back 1A KSPA state championship Saturday, May 1. The last time the program earned a back-to-back state championship title was almost a decade ago.
“I think it’s really cool that we are back-to-back state champions because I don’t know if there are any other teams that are back-to-back state champions,” said Editor-in-Chief Hadleigh Hilt. “We are the only team to be a state champion two years in a row.”
Hilt said it was frustrating to get nearly no recognition for being a two-time state champion.
The yearbook staff was smaller than in previous years, so students competed in more contests to make up for the small staff size. Saint Francis students competed against both 1A and 2A schools in their contests at state. However the state championship title is separated for 1A and 2A schools. Saint Francis earned a whopping 60 points at state. Second place 1A Burrton High School came in as runner-up with 20 points.
To qualify to compete in state, students had to place at regionals.
Bree De Waal, sophomore, placed fourth in sports photography and sixth in news page design.
Junior Jordyn Faulkender placed second in advertising and sixth in yearbook theme and graphics.
“It’s pretty cool to place at state,” Faulkender said. “My partner kind of did a lot of work in the yearbook theme and graphics.”
Andrea Graham, freshman, placed second in infographics and third in yearbook design.
Hilt placed second in “At One with Nature” photography contest, second in yearbook copy writing and sixth in yearbook theme and graphics.
Adam Krien, senior, placed second in student life photography and third in headline writing.
Ellee Krien, sophomore, placed second in yearbook sports writing, fifth in yearbook theme and graphics and sixth in news writing.
Anitzia Mayorquin, junior, placed fifth in news page design.
“I only got fifth,” Mayorquin said. “But it’s cool to know that I was a part of winning state for Ms. D’s last year.”
Junior McKenna Poling was the state champion in advertising.
“It was so sweet to see that all my work paid off,” she said. “I really enjoyed creating the ad so winning made it that much better.”
Rian Zimbal, sophomore, placed third in student life photography, fifth in yearbook theme and graphics, sixth in yearbook copy editing and sixth in yearbook design.
