H-F’s the Voyager staff went to compete at the Illinois High school Association (IHSA) Sectionals on April 6. The Sectionals for journalism have many categories to compete in. 

Senior Myajah Johnson placed fifth in Newspaper Design and placed third in Yearbook Layout Double-Page Spread. Senior Jack Keigher placed third in Sports Writing. Junior Annelise Lathem placed fourth in Copy Editing. Senior Sochim Ozoh placed fifth in the Infographics category. 

Junior Imani Nunn and sophomore Laila Dyer placed fifth in TV News.

Going to sectionals for the Voyager was a fun and exciting experience for the staff.

Junior Veronica Hamaguchi competed in News Writing and Yearbook Copy Writing where she placed third and sixth. She felt like going to sectionals was fun and exciting even though they were in a tougher sectional. 

“It was fun, I actually wasn’t worried about the outcome. I understood that this year we were in a tougher sectional,” said Hamaguchi. “But going into it I felt excited.” 

Sophomore Sumayyah Ryan felt different from her other classmates. She competed in Radio News and placed third. Since it was her first year attending sectionals, she was nervous and uncertain about how it would play out.

“Since it was my first year, I didn’t know what to expect. I did Radio News, so I was separated from everyone else which sucked,” Ryan stated. “But I thought it was nice.”

Due to placement from sectionals, some of the writers gained the opportunity to move on to state which was held on April 26.

Senior AnDrea Taylor placed fourth in Review Writing at state. She was shocked and felt great about placing that high. “It was a master surprise, but it felt good” Taylor stated.

Sophomore Grace Russell placed second in Photo Story Telling at sectionals. Last school year she placed third. Next year she is hoping to place first at sectionals. 

“I have some goals for next year. I really want to place first in our sectional because last year I placed third and this year I placed second,” Russell stated. “I feel like it would be really cool to take first. I really hope that we are placed as a school.”

 They have some goals that they are planning to accomplish for next year. A major goal that they are looking forward to is improvement.

Hamaguchi stated, “It’s all about improvement. I feel like IHSA is a good place to be testing ourselves, especially, for me, on how to write quickly.” 

They are also looking forward to next school year’s opportunity to go sectionals and also state. Ryan is looking forward to meeting the new journalism kids that are coming for next school year. She is also looking forward to getting into sectionals and state again.

 “For next year, obviously getting into sectionals and state again, and I’m excited to see how the future editor-in-chiefs handle things. I’m excited to see the new journalism kids that are coming in and to see what they are going to do,” Ryan stated.