High-school seniors win NINA scholarships

Student journalists from Naperville Central, Minooka and Johnsburg high schools have won $1,200 in scholarships from the Northern Illinois Newspaper Association and three hometown newspapers.

Winners are:

First place: Matt Weir of Naperville, a student a Naperville Central High School. Scholarship award: $800. $400 from NINA, $300 from the Daily Herald, and $100 from the Naperville Sun. Matt joined the staff of Naperville Central's award-winning Central Times for his senior year. He quickly distinguished himself as a columnist and editorial page editor. He has been accepted to attend the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University this fall where

Matt Weir

he plans to double major in journalism and creative writing.

In his scholarship application, Matt wrote, "After college I want to get a job in which I can say things. ... I want to be able to tell others what I care about, and I want to inform them about what they care about. And in all of my thinking so far, journalism is the only avenue in which I'll be able to do that."

Matt's adviser at the Central Times, Linda Kane, describes him as "one of the most talented and remarkable students I've encountered in 28 years of teaching high school and junior high school English, Journalism and Reading."

Second place: Mark Mason of Shorewood, a student at Minooka Community High School. Scholarship award: $300. $200 from NINA and $100 from the Herald News of Joliet. As a free-lance writer for the Herald-News of Joliet, Mark has written numerous articles, columns and in-depth news stories. He plans to attend DePaul University in Chicago this fall. His supervisor at the Herald-News, Jan Larsen, describes him as an "amazingly good writer" with good

Mark Mason

instincts to follow stories. "Mark's going to be a national magazine quality writer," Larsen predicts.

In his scholarship application, Mark described his experience working for the Herald-News as his "greatest thrill." He wrote, "Writing for a newspaper with all its deadlines and stressful days, is an experience that truly makes a person feel more American."

Third place: Sarah Sutschek of McHenry, a student at Johnsburg High School. Scholarship award: $100 from NINA. This past year, Sarah was editor of her school's award-winning newspaper, the Johnsburg Weekly News. She has been a staff member on the newspaper for most of her high school career. As editor, Sarah modernized the newspaper's design and reorganized its production process, while also working with her staff to report on such controversial issues as the arrest

Sarah Sutschek

of a school administrator on drug possession and domestic abuse charges.

In her scholarship application, Sarah wrote: "When I see my name in print there's a thrill. When I walk into the lunchroom on Fridays and see the students and faculty alike with their noses buried in the latest edition, I'm filled with pride. I'm never disappointed in a single issue, because I know that I've tried my hardest to produce only high quality work."

Sarah did not indicate in her application which college she plans to attend this fall. However, she has set a career goal of one day working for a newspaper in a major city, like Chicago or New York.

NINA received 26 applications this year, bringing the total number of applications received over the past six years to 204. In the six years the scholarship has been offered, NINA has awarded $6,300 in scholarships to 16 graduating high school seniors.

"NINA is especially grateful to the Daily Herald, Naperville Sun, and Herald-News of Joliet for their contributions to this year's scholarship awards," said John Etheredge, organizer of the scholarship competition and news editor of the Ledger-Sentinel in Oswego.

The scholarship program strives to recognize outstanding achievement by high school students in the field of print journalism. The program is intended to encourage promising high school journalists to continue their study of the profession at the college level.

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