ODYSSEY MEDIA GROUP
ILIAD STAFF
J1 STAFF
PRODUCTION STAFF
ODYSSEY SENIORS
Word of Introduction & Welcome
Senior Farewell Speeches
Danny Garcia-Pozo, Micah Shannon, Dalila Tejada,
Brunch
Senior Farewell Speeches
Gunnar Churchwell, Andrew Robinson, Lillian Sams, Audrey Kennedy, Krista Shumaker
Senior Farewell Speeches
Maya Cornish, Elena Webber, Owen Donnelly, Lucy Hines, Natalie Ripps, Naomi Hendershot
Special Recognition Awards
We close a school year after months of digital learning, which resulted in many students not seeing one another face-to-face in more than a calendar year. In fact, some of our students have never met in person. However, thanks to the resolve of our student leaders, we have not only weathered the storm, but we’ve also continued to grow and evolve the program.
In many ways, we took a back-to-basics approach this year - working to refine touchstone skills in journalism: interviewing, writing, and collaborative work. The students quickly learned learned how to adapt to Zoom interviewing and showed resilience in following up for interviews when emails and calls went unanswered. To produce a literary-art magazine, a pair of newsmagazines, and to maintain an online presence in these circumstances is surely worthy of community applause for our ODYSSEY Media Group students.
As always, I would like to thank our Booster Club Executive Committee for all their efforts on behalf of our students’ work. Special thanks to Mindy McCage, Ceci Churchwell, Rebecca Gose, Paul Schliekelman, Elise Robinson, Michelle Harris, Kim Kauffman, Jenn Shaikun, Kim Turner, and Meg Hines for their shared leadership. Like our students, our Booster Club has adapted to the changes imposed upon us by the pandemic and has continued its mission to support the kids.
Additionally, a huge thanks to Owen Donnelly for the design and compilation of this commemorative program as well as a special thank you to Ireland McCage and Maya Clement for curating our awards for this year. Chloe Sears is to be commended for the design of our award certificates.
We are also very grateful to our school and district administration for their support. The commitment of
these educators, along with our Board of Education, allows our students to cover our community and to represent our school in the larger community of high school journalism, which this year meant attendance at multiple virtual conferences. I would be remiss if I didn’t thank the many patrons of our literary-art magazine who contribute each year to ensure funding for the magazine. I’d like to call special attention to the Campbell Family for their years of support and for sponsoring the Lorien Awards to recognize our creatives at CCHS.
Two additional recognitions in this letter of thanks go to Chloe Hargrave, who has acted as a teaching assistant and mentor for the students, particularly our senior leaders, and to Kate Kohler, for her ongoing support and belief in the work of students and their adviser.
It’s something of a marvel that we’ll have 15 seniors graduating - some who’ve been with the program for all of high school, some who’ve taken time off and come back, and a handful of one-year wonders. Between them, they have accrued 42 years of journalistic experience. Some of these seniors work multiple class periods each day to support the program. These young people work to espouse programmatic values of inclusivity, representation of their school community, and by being respectful, accountable teammates. The resilience these seniors have shown in the face of the pandemic is a marvel to behold and offers a glimpse of true grit in the face of adversity.
In closing, I’d like to recognize the hard work of the students this year in the Journalism classes and on the iliad staff. Truly, without them, we’d not be here to celebrate. Please join me in congratulating these talented students for a job well done this year!
David A. Ragsdale, Adviser ODYSSEY Media GroupGood afternoon and welcome. Thank you all for coming to this picnic to celebrate the hard work of our staff through this difficult but memorable year.
The true strength of this program was tested by the unexpected pandemic. New and old members of staff faced many obstacles of virtual learning while also trying to sustain themselves during the semester. Yet, despite all obstacles, our staff remained strong and persevered through the challenges. We still maintained coverage of our community during COVID and strived to produce our same standard of quality content as we would any other year.
Reporting and writing about the impacts COVID-19 on our community was difficult, because not only are we journalists but also students, who must balance our academics along with the responsibilities of reporting. So today we celebrate the unwavering dedication and hard work of the 2020-21 staff.
Looking forward to next year, I truly hope circumstances are better, but this was certainly an unforgettable year.
We’d like to give thanks to those who helped and supported our ambitions throughout this year. Thank you to our parents and Booster Club members who have provided us with support, our stakeholders who took time to meet with us and share their stories, perspective, and experiences, and to our ODYSSEY alumni, most notably our Alumni Assistant teacher Ms. Chloe Hargrave, who was more than willing to give back to the program by providing our staff with wisdom and guidance, and our district administration along with Dr. Swade Huff, CCHS principal.
I hope you all enjoy the evening together again to celebrate the great accomplishments displayed this year, as well as our 12 seniors who have greatly contributed to the ODYSSEY Media Group program and its legacy during their high school careers.
Naomi Hendershot, ODYSSEY Media Group Editor-in-Chief
Good afternoon,
After a year of numerous highs and lows, we are so appreciative to finally be gathered here today to celebrate the accomplishments of this years’ ODYSSEY Media Group and iliad Literary-Art Magazine. This unconventional year has forced us to face unexpected difficulties. Yet, as one, large community, we prevailed. We managed to work as a team, compile and produce a magazine, and ultimately, provide our community with a space for expression- these accomplishments deserve to be celebrated.
At the beginning of the year, we set specific goals and values to give us direction and narrow our focus on the core reason we do iliad: to amplify student voices.
Every week to start off our Editorial Board meetings, we read these values: be present, maintain strong relationships with peers, be open minded, strive for diversity, and keep consistent communication.
Our goal as a staff was to put emphasis on each of these values, as it makes us who we are as an organization, Editorial Board, and individuals. As we reviewed these values as a staff, while we were not physically sitting together at a table at 7:45 am in Room 231, we were together in spirit, united by a common vision.
While we converted to a virtual learning model, we still pushed to expand the program and create a magazine that is more representative of the community we serve. With emphasizing diversity being one of our main goals, we strived to amplify voices of creators of color by calculating metrics from past years, setting goals for our current magazine, as well as reaching out to teachers and diverse artists at CCHS. As an Editorial Board, we have grown tremendously through building new relationships in and outside of the program.
None of our creative visions and goals would be possible without the supportive team we have behind us. We are beyond grateful for the parents, donors, and businesses that keep us running and inspire us to persevere in the face of challenge. Thank you to our adviser, Mr. David Ragsdale, for continual guidance and constant push for improvement.
Our supportive community, dedicated EdBoard, and generous patrons have made this year unforgettable. We are proud to be a part of a program that so much to be celebrated.
Lucy Hines and Natalie Ripps, iliad Literary-Art Magazine Co-Editors-in-Chief
Aida Bermudez is a senior at Clarke Central High School and currently serves as Outreach Director for the iliad Literary-Art Magazine. Bermudez was previously a student in the Journalism I class and has attended conferences, such as the Georgia Scholastic Press Association and the Southern Interscholastic Press Association. Bermudez’s interests include drawing, painting, and spending time with family and friends.
Gunnar Churchwell is a senior at Clarke Central High School in Athens. This is his third year on staff and is serving as a podcaster. Churchwell enjoys podcasting, writing about sports and the team aspect of journalism. He hopes to bring an engaging and interactive podcast to many different listening platforms, such as Spotify and Apple Music.
Maya Cornish is a senior at Clarke Central High School and Viewpoints Editor of the ODYSSEY Media Group. She has previously attended journalism conferences such as the Georgia Scholastic Press Association and the Southern Interscholastic Press Association, as well as participating in the Summer 2019 Media & Leadership Academy at Grady College at the University of Georgia. Cornish hopes to create new ideas and discussions with her work. She is a NSLI-Y Russian summer 2018 scholarship recipient and enjoys watching comedy stand-ups on Netflix in her free time.
Maya Cornish, ODYSSEY Viewpoints Editor
Owen Donnelly is a senior at Clarke Central High School in Athens. He is a fourth year production member and a facilitator for the Journalism I class. Donnelly has presented at conferences such as the Southern Interscholastic Press Association, where he serves as president of the organization. Donnelly also participated in the 2020 Medill Online workshop and won the Georgia Scholastic Press Association award for Georgia Champion Journalist of the Year.
Owen Donnelly, Journalism I Facilitator
Aida Bermudez, iliad Outreach Director
Gunnar Churchwell, ODYSSEY Podcaster
Daniel Garcia-Pozo is a senior at Clarke Central High School, in Athens. He serves as the Writing Director for the iliad Literary-Art Magazine and a Viewpoints Staffer for the ODYSSEY Media Group. He has previously attended the Sewanee Young Writers Conference, and been a recipient of the Lorien Award for his written work. In his free time, he enjoys writing, drawing, and making horrendous puns.
Daniel Garcia Pozo, ODYSSEY Podcaster
Naomi Hendershot is an award-winning senior at Clarke Central High School in Athens. Hendershot has been on staff for three years, previously serving as a viewpoints writer, Managing Editor and now Editor-in-Chief. She has presented at various press associations and attended the School of The New York Times in the summer of 2019. Her interests include reading, writing, and working with the ODYSSEY staff to create the best and most accurate media possible. She hopes to positively influence the community through her writing.
Naomi Hendershot, ODYSSEY Editor-in-Chief
Lucy Hines is a senior at Clarke Central High School in Athens. She serves as Co-Editor-in-Chief of the iliad Literary-Art Magazine. She hopes to give a voice to many people at Clarke Central, in many different art forms and provide them with a place to pridefully display their work.
Audrey Kennedy is a senior at Clarke Central High School and Journalism
I Facilitator for the ODYSSEY Media Group in Athens. She hopes to help Journalism I students get their bearings and teach others the basics of Illustrator, Indesign and Photoshop and step in wherever needed.
Audrey Kennedy, Journalism I Facilitator Lucy Hines, iliad Co-Editor-in-ChiefNatalie Ripps is a senior at Clarke Central High School in Athens and currently serves as Co-Editor-in-Chief for the iliad Literary-Art Magazine. Ripps has previously been a sports writer and Variety Editor for the ODYSSEY Media Group and has attended the Georgia Scholastic Press Association and the Southern Interscholastic Press Association conference. Ripps’ interests include playing sports, traveling and meeting new people.
Natalie Ripps, iliad Co-Editor-in-ChiefAndrew Robinson is a senior at Clarke Central High School in Athens, and a Journalism I facilitator for the ODYSSEY Media Group. Robinson hopes to spread his, and other people’s stories through writing. Outside of school, he enjoys playing sports and listening to music.
Andrew Robinson, Journalism I Facilitator
Lilli Sams is a senior and the Illustrator for the ODYSSEY Media Group at Clarke Central High School. Sams hopes to help readers better understand and process stories through illustrations. Outside of the ODYSSEY, Sams enjoys playing soccer, running, making art and spending time with close friends.
Lilli Sams, ODYSSEY Illustrator
Micah Shannon is a senior at Clarke Central High School and a first-year staffer serving as Webmaster for the Media Group. Shannon enjoys writing, music, and rock climbing. He hopes to provide informative, engaging content about issues relevant to CCHS and the broader Athens community.
Micah Shannon, ODYSSEY Webmaster
Krista Shumaker is a senior at Clarke Central High School and is the Broadcast Editor for the ODYSSEY Media Group. Shumaker has attended conferences such as the Georgia Scholastic Press Association and the Southern Interscholastic Press Association. Shumaker enjoys photography, videography and hopes to continue expanding her journalistic knowledge.
Krista Shumaker, ODYSSEY Broadcast Editor
Dalila Tejada is a senior at Clarke Central High School in Athens. This is Tejada’s first year as a photographer for the ODYSSEY Media Group. Her intentions are to make the best of her senior year while becoming a better writer and being familiar with journalism. Her desire is to capture many memories through a lens that others can look back on in the future. She enjoys taking inattentive images to catch true emotions. Tejada has previously served as Photography Editor for the CCHS yearbook.
Dalila Tejada, ODYSSEY PhotographerElena Webber is a senior at Clarke Central High School in Athens and is the Managing Editor for the ODYSSEY Media Group. This is Elena’s fourth year on staff and she hopes to grow the program by leading her peers. Elena has presented at a multitude of conferences such as the Southern Interscholastic Press Association, Georgia Scholastic Press Association and more. Outside of ODYSSEY Elena enjoys reading, playing sports and spending time with friends.
Elena Webber, ODYSSEY Managing Editor
Amanda Ocheing, “Sea Nettle”
