Senate Resolution 96

A RESOLUTION OFFERING THE SINCEREST CONGRATULATIONS OF THE MISSISSIPPI SENATE TO OXFORD HIGH SCHOOL SENIOR WINNIE WILSON IN RECOGNITION OF BEING NAMED "MISSISSIPPI'S 2023 HIGH SCHOOL JOURNALIST OF THE YEAR".

WHEREAS, Winnie Wilson, Oxford High School Senior and Student Body President, was recently named "Mississippi's 2023 High School Journalist of the Year"; and

WHEREAS, as the current Editor-in-Chief of The Charger, Oxford High's student newspaper, Winnie has had many roles throughout her four years as a Journalism student, including Staff Writer, Associate Editor, and Entertainment Editor, and has won numerous other awards in design, writing, and photojournalism; and

WHEREAS, "Winnie has been an exceptional leader, and one of the top students I have ever encountered in my career," said The Charger adviser and OHS Journalism teacher Diala Chaney. "I am so proud of her and all the hard work she has put in as a student journalist for the past four years"; and

WHEREAS, Winnie Wilson will move on to compete against student journalists across the nation in the Journalism Education Association's High School "Journalist of the Year" competition, where up to $3,000.00 in scholarship money will be awarded. As Mississippi's top scholastic journalist, she will also headline a select group of All-Mississippi honorees at Mississippi Scholastic Press Association's statewide spring convention at the University of Mississippi; and

WHEREAS, "I am overwhelmed with gratitude to have been selected as the 'Mississippi Journalist of the Year' and for my adviser, Diala Chaney, who has encouraged me to push myself in pursuit of big stories and has always been available and excited to help with any endeavor at any time of the day," Wilson shared. "Journalism has taught me how to write stories that an audience wants to read. My experiences sharpened my leadership ability as I learned how to meet deadlines and guide a newsroom towards a collective product"; and

WHEREAS, Winnie will attend the University of Virginia this Fall, majoring in Political Philosophy, Policy & Law, and minoring in Journalism. She also plans to attend law school and hopes to become a political journalist; and

WHEREAS, it is with great pride that we commend an outstanding Mississippi student who has brought honor to her school, her community and to the State of Mississippi:

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE SENATE OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI, That we do hereby offer the sincerest congratulations of the Mississippi Senate to Oxford High School Senior Winnie Wilson in recognition of being named "Mississippi's 2023 High School Journalist of the Year," and extend to Winnie, her family and her faculty advisors our best wishes for future success.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, That this resolution be presented to Winnie Wilson, forwarded to Oxford High School faculty Diala Chaney and Principal Dr. Dana Bullard and the Oxford School Board and made available to the Capitol Press Corps.