In Brief: Hillsdale alumnus, student win state journalism awards

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In Brief: Hillsdale alumnus, student win state journalism awards
Nolan Ryan ’20 served as editor-in-chief of the Collegian from 2019-2020.
Courtesy | Nolan Ryan

Last year’s editor-in-chief of the Collegian won a first-place award for investigative reporting and an honorable mention for best writer from the Michigan Press Association in college journalism awards announced last week.

Nolan Ryan ’20, reported on Hillsdale’s lawsuit against the University of Missouri in 2019. Other journalism students and alumni won six awards in several categories.  

“There was more competition this year than in recent years,” Assistant Director of the Dow Journalism Program Maria Servold said. “In many of the categories we won, the winning piece was competing against more than 50 other pieces.”

Now a fifth grade humanities teacher at Valor Public Schools in Austin, Texas, Ryan said he continues to use skills he gained through journalism. 

“One of the huge benefits of writing for the Collegian is the fact that it really is a training ground for honing communication skills,” Ryan said. “It also really trains people to be good reporters and good writers.” 

 Senior Stefan Kleinhenz won second place in the blog/review/column category for his op-ed on baseball and politics. Kleinhenz said he plans to continue to use his journalism skills through documentary filmmaking after graduation. 

“It’s journalism at its very core, but it’s storytelling and in many cases it’s historical, so it’s more about what can we learn from these stories and how can we be better rather than ‘who said what today in D.C. and why do we hate them,’” he said.  

Kleinhenz echoed Ryan’s sentiments about the skills the Collegian teaches students.  

“You learn how to be a better communicator in our journalism program, but you also learn how to be a better listener and truly a better person,” Kleinhenz said. “You’re challenged to tell stories and tell them right.”

Junior Reagan Gensiejewski came in second for her feature story “Unsung heroes of Hillsdale: Walmart’s Jeff Quainton,” and senior Sofia Krusmark received honorable mention in the feature category for her article “Hillsdale couple renovates historic homes.” Senior Victoria Marshall placed third in the news category for her piece “COVID-19 halts life at Hillsdale College.”