Yearbook staff nationally recognized

There is an expectation surrounding Aledo High School. No matter what the students do, they strive to do it better than everyone else.

When April turned to May in 2022, the awards for the 2021 school year were released and the yearbook and journalism staff at Aledo High School had won many awards.

Among these awards was the Gold Crown from the Columbia Scholastic Press Association (CSPA) based out of Columbia University in New York City.

The CSPA hands out yearly awards to yearbook staff at all scholastic levels throughout the country. Two of their awards are called the Gold Crown and Silver Crown, and are awarded for all areas of scholastic journalism to multiple finalists.

Also, the staff at Aledo won multiple awards from the National Scholastic Press Association (NSPA) based out of Minneapolis, Minnesota. The NSPA hands out an award encompassing each type of student media, called the Pacemaker, which was also awarded to Aledo making the staff one of only ten to win both the Gold Crown and Pacemaker.

The NSPA, like the CSPA, also gives out individual awards. Co-editors in chief, Ava Bathurst and Faith Emmitte both were named to the NSPA Honor Roll. Bathurst also received honorable mention for her sports feature photo.

At the state level in the Fall Fiesta hosted by the Texas Association of Journalism Educators, the Ledoian yearbook received First Place in Class 5A for Best in Show, the Catalyst Literary Magazine received First Place for Best in Show, and the Cat’s Eye Newspaper received honorable mention for best in show.

Many students received multiple individual awards at the state level, including Ashlyn Poole for a personality profile, Taylor Tiberg for a sports action photo, and Madi Poston for a portrait photo. The entire staff was also awarded a Gold Star from the Interscholastic League Press Conference, a journalism branch associated directly with the University Interscholastic League.

Among the prestigious staff at Aledo is junior Kaley Schabel, who was named to the NSPA Honor Roll, but also received honorable mention in the Walsworth Publishing Photo Contest. This is not the first time a member of the Schabel family has received the award.

Kaley’s older sister Audrey, currently a student at Texas A&M University, received honorable mention at the Middle School level for a track photo when she was in eighth grade. The youngest of the Schabel daughters is seventh grader Maggie, who also received honorable mention at the middle school level for the same association.

Though Audrey was not able to be a part of the journalism staff through high school, she volunteered her time for photography.

“In ninth grade I took photojournalism,” Audrey recalled. “It was the same credit I had from middle school and I liked the way it fit my schedule as opposed to yearbook. So I was never on the yearbook staff. So in ninth and tenth grade I took photos for the yearbook. I still enjoyed taking photos so I kept doing it.”

Kaley is currently on the yearbook staff at Aledo and will serve as an editor in her senior year. She credits her older sister for the inspiration to join the staff.

“It was definitely Audrey’s fault,” Kaley said with a laugh. “I was inspired by Audrey because going into eighth grade I had no idea what electives I wanted to take. So I thought ‘Audrey enjoyed journalism so I’ll just try it out’ and I really liked it.”

Maggie is currently in seventh grade at Aledo Middle School and looks forward to continuing taking pictures.

“I love the journalism part,” Maggie said. “I really love taking pictures. I’m not sure how long I will stay in journalism but I definitely want to keep taking pictures for the yearbook.”

Many more awards were won by the staff at Aledo. Emily Arnold, the AHS staff member who oversees the yearbook, is very aware of how special her staff is.

“It is extremely rewarding,” Arnold said. “I feel like these students work so hard behind the scenes and that people don’t really realize what goes into what they do. They see the end result when they see the yearbook, but this is just one aspect. It’s gratifying to see them excel in telling the stories of our school.”