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 It's
not every day a high school senior gets a phone call from
Ethel Kennedy, widow of Sen. Robert Kennedy.
But
that's exactly what happened to Bonnie Gallagher last week
when Mrs. Kennedy called to inform Gallagher that her feature
story about the plight of a Bosnian student who escaped
the civil war in her country had won a major national award.
The story, which appeared in the Nov. 16 edition of The
Electron, recounts the story of Arnela Arlic and her
family. Arlic is now a Franklin High School junior.
"I
was really excited," Gallagher said of her phone call
from Kennedy. "She gave me some fast information, and
I jotted it down. When I hung up, I just sat there thinking
for a minute that this isn't real."
That
"reality" sunk in for Gallagher last week when
she and her mother joined adviser Carmen Mann for a trip
to Washington D.C. to receive her award. A highlight for
Gallagher was lunch May 6 at the National Press Club, a
prominent association with membership restricted to Washington-based
journalists with a year or more experience in the area.
At the awards presentation, Gallagher was on stage with
reporters from the Washington Post, The Boston
Globe and "60 Minutes."
Gallagher
gives most of the credit for winning this national award
to Alic, the subject of her November profile. Arlic was
the second person Gallagher called when she learned she
had won an award for her story. Gallagher first went to
see her mother, Sherrie Jones.
"She
started crying," Gallagher said. "She's always
asking me why I need to stay so late after school for newspaper,
and with this it must really became worth it for both of
us," she added.
The
Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Journalism Award for high school
students is given annually to scholastic journalists (and
the professional media) for stories focusing on lifestyle,
challenges and potentials of the disadvantaged in the USA
and around the world, including insights into the causes,
conditions and remedies of their plight.
About
the author:
Bonnie Gallagher plans to continue her journalism work at
Franklin Community High School. She plans to go to college
to be a nurse or another type of health-care professional.
About
the Photos:
Bonnie
Gallagher (lower left) poses with Ethel Kennedy during an
evening ceremony at the Freedom Forum in Freedom Park on
May 7. Kennedy, the widow of Sen. Robert Kennedy, presented
Gallagher with an award for a feature story about a Franklin
student from Bosnia. In the photo below (lower right) Carmen
Mann, Bonnie Gallagher and Sherrie Jones (Bonnie's mother,
far right) made the trip to Washington D.C. together. Click
on the thumbnails below for a larger image.
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