The Missouri Journalism Education Association (MJEA) is an organization that protects scholastic press and speech freedoms of advisers and their students, build diversity in scholastic. One of the awards the MJEA hands out to students is the  honor roll award, which is given to seniors with the following requirements:

• Have a 3.75 GPA or higher on a 4.0 scale
• Seniors had to have worked on the school’s journalism staff for two or more years, which also includes the semester they submitted a form for the award.

This year, two of Grand Center Arts Academy’s students, Ivy Beckenholdt and Juju Vieth were among many students who earned the award this year. Both have been on the staff for three years, around the time the journalism class started.

“Mr. Armknecht originally brought it up to all of his seniors on staff and I knew I wanted to do it even though it wouldn’t really mean anything. I submitted the form because I wanted to get the award and have something to prove for my work on the journalism staff,”said Vieth when asked how she heard of the MJEA honor roll.

“Armknecht made it sound like basically anyone who submitted one and had the requirements would get it.”

“Armknecht just brought it up, so I decided to just submit it because I thought it would be fun to see if I got in,” said Beckenholdt, when she too was asked about how she heard of the honor roll. “As far as how I felt about getting the award….I was hopeful,”

When asked how they felt about earning the award, Vieth responded, “It feels good to have it. I like awards and I worked hard for this one,”

While Beckenholdt responded, “I was happy, but I am sad that now I have to leave journalism.”

Both students have finished their senior year at GCAA. However, their hard work and getting on the honor roll will stay with them.