The EHS journalism team placed second at this year’s IHSA State Competition on April 27 following their second place finish in their sectional.

Scoring a total of 23 points, the journalism team had seven people placing in the top six of their categories. First place earns six points, second place earn five points and so forth until sixth place is awarded with one point toward their teams total points. Downers Grove South won first with 25 points.

Junior Anna Farrar placed first in yearbook caption writing at the sectional as well as the state competition.

“I definitely didn’t expect to place at sectionals, especially with a category I hadn’t every competed in before.” Farrar said. “I know how to write captions but there are 20 other people there who also know how to write captions well.”

Senior Nicole Burbach placed second at the sectional competition as well as second at state for copy editing.

“I was expecting us to do well and place, but I didn’t think we would get second place,” Burbach said. “I was confident in our team and the talent we brought; however, I never thought we would do this good going into state when many of us have never even gone to sectionals.”

Junior Kia Smidt also earned second for editorial cartooning, senior Ava Fehrmann was awarded fourth in review writing, junior Jessica Fosse placed fifth in yearbook layout, junior Josh Perry earned sixth place in feature writing and junior Cierra Veizer placed sixth in advertising.

“I did not expect to place in the top three because we didn’t come to state with as many people competing in categories as the previous year,” adviser Amanda Thrun said. “So it was an extraordinarily pleasant surprise.”

Thrun also said that every competition varies from year to year and it’s best to not have expectations coming into the state tournament.

“Even though it seemed like a long shot,” Burbach said. “When they called Edwardsville High School my heart was racing and it was one of the best moments of my life.”