Downers Grove North student named 2018 Illinois Journalist of the Year
March 14, 2018
Natalie White, a senior at Downers Grove North High School, has been named the 2018 Illinois Journalist of the Year by the Illinois Journal Education Association.
She is IJEA’s 29th Journalist of the Year since 1989. The honor comes with a scholarship and makes her eligible to compete for the national title.
Natalie, a senior, serves as editor-in-chief of the student newspaper, The Omega. She is the second Downers Grove North student to be named the state’s top high school journalist in as many years. DGN graduate Abigail Murphy received the title in 2017.
Elizabeth Levin is Natalie’s journalism teacher and The Omega’s faculty adviser.
On March 8, IJEA board members Brenda Field and Stan Zoller visited Natalie in her journalism classroom to surprise her with the news of the award. Family members were also present for the celebration.
Natalie will travel to San Francisco in April to represent Illinois in JEA’s national-level Journalist of the Year contest.
PHOTO: IJEA board members Stan Zoller and Brenda Field visited Downers Grove North senior Natalie White on March 8 in her journalism classroom to give her the good news that she had been selected as the 2018 Illinois Journalist of the Year. From left: Stan Zoller, DGN journalism teacher and adviser Elizabeth Levin, Natalie White and Brenda Field. Photo courtesy of Downers Grove North High School.