MIPA-MJEA is proud to announce and congratulate its all-state journalism team for 2022. The team consists of 11 students from 10 different schools across the state. Here is a bit about them from their submissions. Congratulations to all the recipients and their advisers!

Owen Auston-Babcock, Clayton High School

Owen serves as the senior manager in charge of digital media. Under his purview, Owen writes our weekly newsletter, which is sent to all of our subscribers, he curates our social media feeds, and manages content on the Globe website. His adviser Erin Sucher-O’Grady shared: “Owen goes above and beyond the description of his position. He also is dedicated to writing and reporting stories as well as editing the work of others. Owen is, without question, a jack of all trades. His more recent piece, detailing the unlivable wages earned by some of the employees in our wealthy school district, has resulted in the district reconsidering their roles and is now renegotiating their pay for the 2022-2023 school year.”

Hannah Bernard, Francis Howell Central High School

Hannah is a senior and third-year staff member who serves as Multimedia Editor. She is the founder of High School Democrats of America, president of the Principal’s Council, Communication Director for Student Council, an Officer for FBLA, and is part of Missouri Youth and Government. After high school, Hannah plans to attend college in Washington D.C. and major in international affairs. Her adviser Matthew Schott shared: “If I were to describe Hannah Bernard to you, I think I’d tell you she’s a ninja chameleon. I don’t know that I’ve ever described a student this way but I don’t know that I’ve ever had a student quite as unique as Hannah. Or maybe a Swiss army knife. But I think ninja chameleon is a more apt description of who Hannah is and it definitely sounds more interesting. I say this because she’s someone who’s done a bit of everything as a member of the newspaper staff at Francis Howell Central and done them all at a very high level of skill. She’s written great profiles in our newspaper, made compelling videos, shot great photographs and has served as an editor and mentor to other students to help make other students better.”

Amber Winkler, Francis Howell North High School

Amber is a junior at Francis Howell North High School in St. Charles and has been part of the publications program since her freshman year. She originated on photo staff and then moved to News staff. Shortly after, she applied to be an editor and became Editor-in-Chief of Web and Socials for the News staff. She has done work from photography and writing to web design and social media management. Her adviser, Aaron Manfull shared: “I would like to highly recommend Amber Winkler for the 2022 Missouri All-State Journalism Team. Amber represents everything this honor is about and for the last three years has continued to be a force in the Francis Howell North Journalism program — creating exceptional individual work, pushing the publications forward to evolve and helping others every chance she gets.”

Kyle Button, Francis Howell North High School

Kyle Button is a senior at Francis Howell North High School and is a part of the video staff for the 2021-2022 school year. He has been on photo staff as a staffer for a semester and is now the Editor in Chief of the video staff. During his time on photo staff, Button specialized in sports photography. On video staff, he anchors the Knightly Show and has filmed hype videos. He also is on the varsity baseball team, is an FHN mentor, and is a member of FCA, FBLA, and DECA. Button does freelance photography, including senior pictures, media content for Harvester Christian Church, and sports photography. He posts most of his freelance work on his Instagram page. Button plans to go to the University of Missouri-Columbia to pursue a degree in strategic communications and sports journalism. His adviser Aaron Manful shared this: “I would like to highly recommend Kyle Button for the Missouri All-State Journalism Team. Kyle is a highly motivated, hard-working individual who is kind to others and who is a natural leader. He is the leader of the FHN Media program that’s comprised of 90 students and he’s in the top 1% of students I’ve taught in my 20+ years in the classroom.”

Megan Glasgow, Kirkwood High School

Megan has been involved in journalism all four years of high school. As a writer on the school newspaper, The Kirkwood Call, she was features and in-depth editor her junior year and editor-in-chief her senior year. Megan has also interned for the local paper, The Webster-Kirkwood Times, in which she wrote several stories. Student press freedom is important to her, and she has advocated for First Amendment rights within her high school. Along with journalism, Megan is on the track and field team and president of the school’s Physics Club. Her adviser Mitch Eden wrote: “It makes me proud to be a teacher when I can recommend a student of the caliber of Megan Glasgow. I have known Megan for three years, and I could not think of a more deserving student and person. Megan’s ability to
harness her creativity to serve her fellow human beings in meaningful ways sets her apart from other students. I am proud to recommend Megan for the MIPA-MJEA All-State journalism team. The first words that come to mind when I attempt to describe Megan are that she is genuine, determined,
and talented. As her journalism adviser, I have been able to witness first-hand the development of a very fine student and leader. She is openly joyful about learning and awed by the privileges and riches available to her.”

Sophia Liu, Ladue Horton Watkins High School

Sophia Liu has been a member of Ladue Publications since her freshman year. Liu is the Design Editor in Chief of Panorama newsmagazine and is currently interning with Sauce magazine. Liu will attend the University of Pennsylvania in the fall where she hopes to report for “The Daily Pennsylvanian.” In her free time, she enjoys playing tennis, figure skating, and reading. Her adviser Sarah Kirksey wrote: “Wordsmith. Problem solver. Visionary. Standout. Prodigy. Sophia Liu. I know this sounds extreme, but never in my life have I met someone as talented as this young woman. My name is Sarah Kirksey and it is my sincere hope that you consider Sophia Liu for the 2022 Missouri All-State Team.”

Kymon Warman, Liberty High School

As an LHS journalist, Kymon has only been at our school for one year. But in this year, he has written countless in-depth and feature articles for the newspaper, The Bell. He has also been an integral part of the KLHS broadcasting staff. Kymon participated in many challenges and projects to better the broadcast and live sports team. Before his time here at LHS, he was a part of Kearney’s journalism staff. Because the school couldn’t support a student newspaper, he spent time interning as a writer for The Call. His adviser Jamie Gumina shared: “It is my pleasure to recommend Kymon Warman to this award. Warman is an integral part of both my KLHS advanced broadcasting team and The Bell student newspaper. As the advisor of the journalism department, I can assure you that Warman is an outstanding organizer, leader and mentor to his staffs. This was his first year, and he was a standout lead anchor and writer because of the extra time he put into researching and interviewing in his own time.”

Audrey Culver, Liberty North High School

Audrey Culver is a senior at Liberty North High School and has served as Editor In Chief for two years. Audrey is skilled as a student leader and her views on scholastic journalism are as follows: “Journalism isn’t something I have to do in order to finish the yearbook or meet deadlines, it is something that I get the privilege to do. Sure, it’s a job, but I see it as my passion. No negative connotations here.” Audrey plans to attend the University of Arkansas where she will study Journalism: News and Editorial with a minor in Religious Studies. Audrey also participated in FCCLA, FRESH (Finding Reasons to Exercise Safe Habits), Females Empowered, Kindness Klub, National Honor Society, Student Ambassadors, and 4:12 Student Ministries. Her adviser Ronna Sparks-Woodward wrote: “It is with no reservations and utmost sincerity that I write this letter supporting Audrey Culver for MIPA-JEA All-State Journalism Honors. If you read over the “Please describe the responsibilities this position entails” section of the application, you’ll see the expectations for Editors-In-Chief in my program. Audrey is the only EIC I’ve ever had in my 23 years of teaching that completely fulfills every one of these expectations and more. 

Grace Herzog, Lindbergh High School

Grace Herzog is a 16-year-old journalist and the Co-Editor-in-Chief of the Spirit Yearbook at Lindbergh High School. In her free time, she enjoys reading, writing, occasionally binge-watching Netflix, and all things yearbook-related. Although she has a passion for journalism, she is a strong advocate of the Oxford comma and thinks APA style would be even better if a comma could go before the word “and.” Her adviser Carissa Rapp wrote: “I am writing to you today to express my support of the nomination of Grace Herzog for the 2022 MJEA All-State Journalism Team. I have known Grace in an academic setting for two years, and I have found her to be a young woman of great character, maturity, and intelligence. For the past two years, I have gotten the pleasure of having Grace as a student in yearbook. In her first year on staff, Grace set herself apart from her classmates with her intelligence, confidence, and good nature and quickly became a star staff member with huge leadership potential.”

Kaya Barringer, North Kansas City High School

Kaya is a senior at North Kansas City High School, pursuing the Gold Medallion Diploma. Her love for journalism started in 8th grade, when she joined her middle school’s small yearbook staff as a writer. Since then, she has served on the North Kansas City High School Purgold Yearbook as a staff member for one year, co-editor for two, and social media manager for one, as well as serving as the Quill and Scroll chapter president for one year. While she started as a writer, she has extended her expertise to photography, design, and marketing. On top of her involvement in journalism, she is also involved in Chamber Orchestra, Book Club, DDCC, NHS, her church’s Girls Ministries Program, and also works part-time at a local, family-owned restaurant. Her adviser Mary Prichard wrote: “Kaya’s character and dedication to journalism shines through her school work and personal responsibilities. She follows through on her commitments in her classes, school activities, and part-time job outside of school. In 2020 during the initial COVID shutdown, so many of my yearbook students disappeared when they learned their grades would not be impacted by their virtual participation (or lack of participation). In her rookie year of staff, Kaya continued on, showing up virtually and stepping up to help others with their yearbook assignments as well. She showed leadership during that difficult time, helping complete our school yearbook from home and encouraging her classmates to keep working as well.”

Alex Michael Porter, Richland High School

Alex Porter is the Photo Editor for Richland’s student yearbook The Rebel. Through his rigorous work ethic and his personal ethics, Porter has worked his way into this leadership position with an eye on the Editor-in-Chief job soon. He is the backbone of our staff and is in charge of planning coverage as well as teaching our younger staff members how to shoot. Alex has multiple Sweepstakes awards from Quill & Scroll as well as a string of awards from JEA, J-Day @ SEMO, Ball State, and many others. Outside of the yearbook staff, Alex also holds a leadership position in FBLA (Future Business Leaders of America). Currently, he is serving as our local President and will be looking to take a district leadership position next year. His adviser Kyle Carter shared: “Students like Alex Porter very rarely come along. Currently, Alex is serving as the Photo Editor for our yearbook program but will be transitioning soon into the role of Assistant Editor, with him slated for the big job (EIC) his senior year. He has been a game-changer, someone we can count on to do the right thing at the right time, every time. Alex is one of the unique individuals that joined our staff as an eighth-grader. He was on staff and in training for a total of 8 days before COVID hit and we all left school for two and a half months. However, unlike all the rest, Alex didn’t just sit back and wait for us to come back. He joined conferences with our editors, went out and photographed empty shelves, food drives, and empty church buildings on his own – making sure to be respectful but to be able to tell the true stories of our community in what was happening as we were all quarantined.”