HATBORO-HORSHAM HIGH SCHOOL’S HAT CHAT CLUB MEMBERS HAVE THE WRITE STUFF…AND NATIONAL AWARDS TO PROVE IT

 On November 14, eight members of Hatboro-Horsham High School’s student newspaper, Hat Chat, traveled to Boston for the National Journalism Education Association Conference. Led by teacher advisers Kim English-Murphy and Stacy Soricelli, the students turned in an excellent performance. Hat Chat members earned awards in sports writing, review writing, editorial cartooning, editing and headline writing and club copy and caption writing. The newspaper’s quiz bowl team advanced to the semifinals beating out 23 teams in the process.

Hat Chat began publication in 1930 and continues to publish approximately one issue per month. Operating as a journalism program, not as a class, students volunteer their time after school to publish the paper. They learn “on the job.” This distinction is important because roughly 90 percent of the schools the Hat Chat team competed against were teams representing journalism classes that provide students with daily teacher instruction. “We are very proud of our students. They performed admirably against larger schools with journalism courses built into the curriculum,” noted English-Murphy.

The national conference, which attracted more than 5,000 students, is open to all newspaper, yearbook and broadcast programs around the country. In addition to participating in competitions, students attended sessions on many diverse topics, which were led by top advisers, professors and professionals in the field. Hatboro-Horsham was one of only two schools representing Pennsylvania. Students were selected based on their commitment to the student newspaper.

Bravo Hat Chat Members

The following students earned awards at the conference: Honorable mentions were awarded to Steph Bergan for sports writing, Pat McAteer for review writing, Gern Pak for editorial cartooning and Luke Graglia for editing and headline writing. Ben Lebofsky earned an “excellent” in club copy and caption-writing. The four-person quiz bowl team that made its way to the semifinals included Steph Bergan, Kelsey Dool, Luke Graglia and Ben Lebofsky. “It is my pleasure to congratulate Hatboro-Horsham’s participants for putting forth such a strong effort,” said high school principal Dennis M. Williams, Jr.