Hinsdale South Student Named Illinois Journalist of the Year

Photo: Hinsdale South English teacher Jim Kelly, Illinois Journalist of the Year Ashley Yong, JEA’s East region director Stan Zoller and Illinois state director for the JEA Brenda Field. Submitted by Hinsdale Township High School District 86.

Hinsdale Township High School District 86 today proudly announced that Hinsdale South senior Ashley Yong was selected by the Illinois Journalism Education Association (IJEA) as the Illinois Journalist of the Year. Stan Zoller, the Journalism Education Association’s (JEA) East region director and Brenda Field, Illinois state director for the JEA personally delivered the award to Ashley at South.

Ashley will represent the state of Illinois at the JEA’s annual spring conference in April. She, along with 49 other state journalists of the year, will travel to the national event held in Denver, Colorado, where a winner will be selected from among the 50 participants.

“This award obviously says a lot about Ashley,” said English teacher Jim Kelly. “She is heavily involved with three journalism programs at South—yearbook “Vespa,” newspaper “The Stinger” and multimedia club HSTV Buzz. She also competed on the forensics team as well. She put a lot of work into this application process and we heard from the judges that they were blown away with her application, the work she has done, and most importantly, the person she is.”

Those feelings were also echoed by Hinsdale South Activities Director Katie Tosh, “This also says tremendous things about our school. From the English department’s focus on writing, to the art department’s photography and design, to the administration allowing these young journalists the freedom to pursue their craft without the restrictions of prior review, this is an honor we all should share with Ashley. I also want to give a special mention to her journalism advisors, Jim Kelly, Liz Newman, Megan Parker, Katie Aquino and Richard Sasso for being instrumental in shaping Ashley into the journalist she is today.”

Ashley plans to study journalism at the University of Missouri this fall.

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