OLCHS Journalism Team Takes Sectional, Advances To IHSA Finals

Oak Lawn Community High School's journalism team placed 12 out of 16 categories in the IHSA journalism sectional, advancing to IHSA Finals.

By Lorraine Swanson, Patch Staff

Apr 29, 2026 4:38 pm CDT

Oak Lawn Community High School sectional winning champs and state-bound journalism team: (front) Sara Nassar, Mariam Hrezi, Makaila O’Brien, Sophia Valdez, Yusr Elameer. (Back) Ricki Lesiak, John Allison, Ryszard Plata, Kalid Cintron, Brody Ivey, (OLCHS)

OAK LAWN, IL—Sir Alex Ferguson, the legendary British soccer manager, said, “Rookies bring the spark; veterans build the fire.”

The 2025-2026 Oak Lawn Community High School Journalism Team used a competitive fire and mix of students with various levels of experience to win their Journalism Sectional on April 10 against some impressive programs such as Argo, Evanston, OPRF, and St. Laurence. The team consisted of experienced veterans who have that desire to win at the sectional and some new members enthusiastically learning about their competition on the fly.

“Getting all-state as a sophomore showed me what’s possible,” team veteran Rawan Ali said. “Now, as a senior, I’m determined to make the most of my final opportunity and go for the state title.”

With their performances at the sectional, the journalism team qualified for 12 of the 16 events by finishing in the top 3 in their categories. The team scored 67 points, with several students capturing sectional wins and others contributing to the total by placing in the top six in each event.

The journalism team was led by Sectional Champion Senior Sara Abdelrahman, who won in both editorial writing and yearbook caption writing. Senior Rory Ali returns to State as a sectional champion in photo storytelling. Junior Makaila O’Brien won the review writing competition and placed second in feature writing. The sophomore dynamic duo of Sara Nassar and Mariam Hrezi won in the yearbook theme development category. Freshman Ryszard Plata won the news writing.

Also making it to state with top three finishes are: Senior Joseph O’Leary for newspaper design, senior Naliyah Anderson for advertising, senior Sophia Valdez in radio broadcast, sophomore Kalid Cintron for headline writing, and freshman John Allison for yearbook copy. Also, earning points were sophomore Yusr Elmer and junior Brody Ivey.

“With all these sectional champions and state qualifiers, we have a great opportunity to perform well at the State Tournament,” Mr. DiFilippo, OLCHS journalism head coach Patrick DeFilippo said. “We have to keep working on our craft, and success will follow.”