Bloomington North's Janna Brancolini wins IHSPA's Journalist of the Year for 2005.

• See Janna's column about the Knight Report.






 

Versatile Brancolini seeks
science, journalism connection

By Diana Hadley, IHSPA assistant director

Many high school students are involved in a variety of activities, but few excel in all of them. However, Janna Brancolini, Indiana’s 2005 High School Journalist of the Year, combines her talent and dedication to journalism with similar passions for science, music, and volunteerism.            

Unlike students who dabble in many activities, Janna accelerates to full speed in everything she does. Her teachers say it’s not a coincidence that Janna leads groups that win state competitions and make a difference in society.           

For example, Janna is co-president of the local Habitat for Humanity, the only high school or college chapter to build four houses in four years.          

Janna also serves as  co-captain of the four-time state champion Science Olympiad team, which also placed 4th in national competition last year.           

Not to leave out music, Janna is an accomplished violinist who is an instructor with the Indiana University Pre-College String Academy.            Janna’s Bloomington North classmates who have known her since elementary school remember her writing talent from second grade, but the journey to Journalist of the Year has had some interesting turns that include both positive and negative experiences.           

In fact, the four-year North Star staff member, who has been co-editor or editor in chief since her sophomore year, can identify with students who have faced censorship issues. Despite the challenges, she has not only persevered with the high school paper, she is also a founding member and writer for the Bloomington Herald Times YouthINK, a weekly section targeted for local teens and written entirely by teens.           

Janna’s fight for the right to publish stories that are important to North Star readers has won praise from teachers who admire her “ability and passion for journalism as a vehicle for social change.”           

She says the most rewarding article she has ever written is a recent in-depth story about bullying and harassment at North. Privacy issues made it difficult to collect information, but she finally connected with a victim who was willing to share an experience so that others could understand.

Although Janna thinks journalism will be a part of her future, she isn’t sure just how. She plans to attend the University of Southern California and connect it to some of her other interests, especially science.           

Janna says, “Maybe I will cover ethics as it applies to stem cell research and genetics. That way the public can decide which legislation to support based upon facts as opposed to propaganda. Maybe I will focus on foreign policy and international relations, or maybe I will just write about everyday people who do extraordinary things. Hopefully, I will write about them all, and if I do I will remember that it was made possible, in part, because of my experiences in a small city in the middle of Southern Indiana. A good journalist, after all, always cites her sources.”

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