By THE ODYSSEY STAFF
COLUMBIA, S.C. – 45 members of Clarke Central High School’s ODYSSEY Newsmagazine, ODYSSEY Online, ODTV and Iliad Literary-Art Magazine participated in the University of South Carolina’s Southern Interscholastic Press Association’s #NoFilter convention in Columbia, S.C. from Feb. 28 – March 2, along with more than 450 other students from across the Southeast. Junior Nicholas Byrne gave a speech for SIPA student officer president to open the conference. Stating he would move the conference into the digital age in his four-minute speech, he ran against three other candidates hailing from across the Southeast. “When I gave my campaign speech in front of the crowd of seemingly 500 people, I was not nervous one bit,” Byrne said. “I just didn’t really think about the crowd, and just focused on what I was saying. Two years ago there is no way I could ever have done that. It would have scared me senseless.” Forty-two students attended pre-convention classes at USC’s Coliseum. First-time attendee senior Jahkiem Ellison took part in the Broadcast Boot Camp pre-convention class with a handful of other ODTV broadcast students. “I got a chance to take a lot of classes in journalism and broadcasting and learned a lot about myself and everyone else (on staff),” Ellison said.
Chad Rhym and Aaron Holmes lead a presentation on diversity and adversity in student publications.
Juniors Chad Rhym and Aaron Holmes, of the ODYSSEY Newsmagazine, presented the session “Diversity and adversity” with adviser David Ragsdale on Saturday morning. The session explored methods of tackling stories while considering racial, religious, cultural and economic demographics present within a readership. “It was a beautiful experience,” Rhym said. “It was cool and all to present, but to me, the best thing about it was hearing the kids who came to the session and shared their stories. I learned a lot from simply listening to them.” Members of the ODYSSEY Online staff presented a session entitled “Exploring Multimedia” and featured insight into the myriad ways readers can engage with a story across platforms through the inclusion of interactive maps, infographics, videos and sound bites. Digital Managing Editor James Lumpkin, Web Master Susanna Conine-Nakano and Digital Copy Editor Tiernan O’Neill all made their debuts as presenters and received praise for their engaging session.
The ODYSSEY Website editors present a session on the importance of multimedia at SIPA.
“I learned a lot about myself. It really showed me that I have I do have the abilities to talk with knowledge about journalism and digital journalism,” O’Neill said. “It was also great to hear a lot positive feedback from some advisers and other students from reputable schools.” CCHS’ two Quiz Bowl teams competed in the preliminary round of competition and both qualified for the quarter-final round of eight teams on Saturday. The Red Squad was captained by senior Jenny Alpaugh, the Editor-in-Chief of the ODYSSEY, and included senior Rad Brosius, junior Brittney Butler and sophomore O’Neill. The Gold Squad was lead by senior Lumpkin and was rounded out by seniors Austin Defoor and Geneva Hinkle and junior Holmes. Both teams advanced to Sunday’s semi-finals where the Gold Squad faced the Red Squad in head-to-head competition. The match went to a sudden death tiebreaker. Gold advanced to the Final Round, where they went into the last question of the match tied against Oxford High School of Oxford, Miss. The Mississippi team scored the final five-point question with the answer “lie”, winning with a final score of 30-35. “I honestly wasn’t expecting to make it that far at all, so the fact that the team did so well was a great surprise,” Holmes said. “I’m proud of both of our teams, and I’m glad we competed. It was a lot of fun, and the fact that we made it to finals for the first time is itself exciting.” At the closing ceremony and awards banquet, Byrne was named SIPA’s 2014-15 President, Byrne is the second CCHS student to hold the position following the term of Chloe Hargrave in 2012-13. Along with two other student officers and members of SIPA’s Advisory Board, which includes Ragsdale, Byrne will plan the 2015 SIPA spring convention at a meeting in Va. in September. He will go on to open, facilitate, and close the 2015 convention. The 2013 Iliad was recognized as All-Southern and was declared the Scroggins Award winner, SIPA’s highest honor. In addition to providing a forum for CCHS artists, photographers and writers, the Iliad featured works from students from both Burney-Harris-Lyons and Clarke Middle School.
The Iliad staff members attended classes and participated in the magazine swap while at SIPA.
Ethan Crane is this year’s Iliad Editor-in-Chief, with Maria Velasquez and Anna Grossman serving as editors and Audrey Hinkle, Grace Polaneczky and Emily Watson as staff members. “While I am proud of the Iliad for taking the Scroggins Award, the award really reflects the caliber of student work at CCHS and the talent of our students,” Crane said. The ODYSSEY’s website, ODYSSEY Online, received an All-Southern rating and was also named a Scroggins Award winner. The site is lead by Alpaugh, managed by Lumpkin and Conine-Nakano, and edited by O’Neill. “Winning the Scroggins Award shows the dedication and hard work of our online staff and will pave the way for future improvement,” Lumpkin said.
The ODYSSEY and Iliad staff at SIPA.
The 2013-14 ODYSSEY Newsmagazine was recognized as All-Southern and was declared Best Newspaper in Georgia for 2013 by SIPA. The ODYSSEY has garnered both titles since 2006. Broadcast staff members in attendance were Nicholas Byrne, Makayla Richards, Julie Alpaugh, Ella Sams and Jahkiem Ellison, Online staff members in attendance were Fear Churchwell, Austin Defoor, Lucas Dube-Cantin, Sarahi Garfias, Sarah Goodie, Hanna Harper, Jonitta Julius, Natasha Maddox, Whitney Letman, O’Neill and Zach Tully. Newsmagazine staff members in attendance were Alpaugh, Butler, Brosius, Esther Conaway, Crane, Tierra Hayes, Hinkle, Audrey Hinkle, Holmes, John Hubbard, Jaymel Israel, Porter McLeod, Mary Merritt, Louise Platter, Polaneczky, Hannah Rollins, Henry Scott, Luke Slaboda, Kendarius Sturdivant, Henry Thomas, Robert Walker, Emily Watson and Velasquez. “Going to SIPA was beneficial for the whole staff since this year we have a lot of new members,” Crane said. “We were able to experience the atmosphere of a convention and learn from other advisers and students in ways we couldn’t get anywhere else.” Staff Awards ODYSSEY Newsmagazine: Best in State ODYSSEY Online: Scroggins Award – Best Website In SIPA Iliad Literary Art Magazine: Scroggins Award – Best Literary Magazine In SIPA Evaluation Ratings Iliad Literary Art Magazine: All-Southern ODYSSEY Newsmagazine: All-Southern ODYSSEY Online: All-Southern 2014 Mail-in contest winners Literary Magazine Drama First Place: Kyle Fox Poetry First Place: Gregg Guichard Third Place: Jacob Cona Prose Fiction and Narrative First Place: Ethan Crane Third Place: Baylor Ward Prose Nonfiction Second Place: Hannah Dunn-Grandpre Newsmagazine Editorial Column Third Place: Chloe Alexander Entertainment Feature Column Second Place: Chloe Alexander Feature Story Third Place: Louise Platter News Feature Second Place: Jenny Alpaugh Review Third Place: Grace Polaneczky Sports Feature Second Place: Aaron Holmes Sports Column Second Place: Chad Rhym On-site Competitions Review Writing Contest Second Place: Emily Watson TOP Onsite Production Best Design Grammar Challenge Champion: Aaron Holmes Runner-Up Quiz Bowl: James Lumpkin Geneva Hinkle Austin DeFoor Aaron Holmes Semi-finalist Quiz Bowl: Jenny Alpaugh Radford Brosius Brittney Butler Tiernan O’Neill
