By ARIANNA SCAVONE
JerEcho reporter and New Media Communications III student Alanna Levine was recognized by the Press Club of Long Island for her journalistic achievements with the Hank Logeman/News 12 High School Journalism Award.
“This is a huge honor for our newspaper,” said senior and Executive Editor of the JerEcho Sam Newman. “I think the awards that we all receive collectively show how amazing and dedicated all of our reporters are.” On Levine’s success, New Media Communications instructor and JerEcho advisor Ms. Valenza said, “I think it’s a tribute to the kind of students we have, how hard they work, and how passionate they are about journalism.” Valenza acknowledged that Levine is particularly assiduous in that “she’ll go the extra mile to go out of the school building and cover more of the important topics that concern students today.”
Amongst Levine’s contributions to the JerEcho are “Molly on the Rise,” in which she investigated the rising popularity and use of the drug molly among teenagers; “Meet Ed, Mia and Ana, the New Faces of Eating Disorders,” which covered the internet’s role in promoting eating disorders; the photography feature “Humans of Jericho” modeled on the popular project “Humans of New York” and “Minutes Away, Worlds Apart” which compared the lives of Hempstead High School and Jericho High School students.
“I’m so proud of my eating disorder and Hempstead pieces. I feel like I have a personal connection to a lot of my pieces, and I’m lucky to say that I’m proud of all of them,” Levine said.
Levine will be a freshman at the University of South Florida in the fall of 2015, where she plans on majoring in neuropsychology. “I want to be on my college’s newspaper,” said the student journalist. “I already started talking to USF about it when I went on the tours.” Valenza hopes to see Levine continue to utilize her skills as a writer and a reporter, and particularly hopes to see Levine continue to publish work in college. “Whether or not students pursue journalism as a major in college, the real world experiences that this class provides and the skills that they learn about writing and research are going to serve them no matter which field they go into. I’m sure that Alanna is going to be successful in whatever she sets her mind to,” said Valenza.
Levine said, “I want to do public speaking towards the end of my career, specifically covering my work, and I feel that the JerEcho really prepared me for that and the rest of my future.” She is proud to have won this award and it has made her realize that “this is a passion I can continue in the future.” Levine added that she cannot thank the Press Club of Long Island enough for this honor.
Levine will be formally recognized by the Press Club of Long Island at their annual awards dinner on June 4th at the Woodbury Country Club.
Congratulations Alanna! You deserve it!