Seven students from the journalism and yearbook classes competed at the NSAA State Journalism competition on April 24 at Northeast Community College in Norfolk.

The competition had multiple categories and eight contestants for each class. Depending on the category, the students were either judged on a story they wrote or a video they created.

“The competition was pretty stressful because I was with the best in the state, but it was also really fun to write stories because I enjoy doing that,” junior Cassie Schlautman said.

The first round Pius X competed in was held at 10 a.m. and writers were given an hour and fifteen minutes to write a story. In this round, Schlautman, sophomore Easton Beekman, freshman Roxie Prunty and seniors Ryan Hoffschneider, Clare Bauman and Evie Sievert competed.

“I had a lot of technical difficulties because of the flash drive,” Schlautman said. “I also wish I had more time to edit my story.”

In the second round, senior Catthi Pham, Hoffschneider and Bauman competed in a yearbook writing category. In this category competitors were also given an hour and fifteen minutes.

“I was extremely nervous because all my competition looked super smart and my brain was just blanking,” Pham said.

After all the rounds were complete, a ceremony was held to hand out medals. Pius X won 4th place overall and has two new state champions, Schlautman (Broadcast Sports Feature) and Pham (Yearbook Theme Copy).

“I thought I was going to be one of the last names called, and every time they called a name that wasn’t mine the tension grew,” Pham said.