The Central Trend is proud to announce 16 winners and honorable mentions for the Michigan Interscholastic Press Association (MIPA) annual awards. We thank our viewers, who make it possible for us to continue to publish amazing stories every day and contribute to record-breaking site views every year. Without you, none of these awards would have been possible for the talent we hold across the board on both the FHC Sports Report staff and The Central Trend staff. Below are highlighted interviews with first, second, and third placeholders on our sites; we congratulate them on their accomplishments, as they continue to turn out award-winning stories daily.

Name: Lynlee Derrick

Position on staff: Editor in Chief

Award: First place, Review

“Phoebe Bridgers’ Copycat Killer brings me ethereal ruin” is a piece written in utter realization and awakening for anguish and connections and both winning and losing and so, so much power. This review was a statement among the rest; it is a piece that sets the tone for everything Lynlee’s fellow staffers should strive to achieve in their writing—further showcasing her talent as one of the two Editor in Chiefs for the 2020-2021 school year.

1. What inspired you to write this story?

“I wrote this review because Phoebe Bridgers has been my favorite artist since I first heard her album Stranger in the Alps, so being able to review some of her work and give her the recognition she deserves just felt natural to me. I loved these re-recordings so much that I was just moved to write about them.”

2. What makes this piece special?

“This piece took a lot out of me in the best way possible. I spent hours on it; without ever leaving my computer, I kept re-listening to parts of each song versus the original one, and it took an entire day. That being said, I think its specialness just comes from how much of a Phoebe Bridgers fan I am. Seriously. All of my friends always tell me about how they think about me when they hear Phoebe, and that just really makes me happy—especially to reinforce that with a review.”

3. Did you run into any difficulties writing this story?

4. What was your initial reaction when this piece was chosen for Best of SNO?

“I was super grateful, and I think this piece was very deserving because it is something that took a lot of me, something that I love about someone I admire, something that conveys my talent and passion for review. In a way, Best of SNO makes sense. It felt right, and it made me very happy—it reinforced my pride in the piece.”

Name: Jessie Warren

Position on staff: Staff Writer

Award: First place, Informative Feature

“From catching bees to chopping trees, these students look to Animal Crossing for enjoyment and relaxation” provides for one of FHC students’ favorite pastimes found in a unique video game. Reading Jessie’s piece is like taking a break along with the players: it is a safe space to breathe, relax, and enjoy.

1. What inspired you to write this story?

“Last summer, I received a Nintendo Switch for my birthday and immediately hopped on the bandwagon of folks playing Animal Crossing. It is one of those classic games that is both easy-going and enjoyable, and it basically re-defined summer 2020 for me. After months of working on my island, I got to thinking, ‘There have to be other members of the student body who love the game as much as I do,’ and I used that idea to write this feature.”

2. What makes this piece special?

“I’m relatively new to The Central Trend, and one of the biggest resentments I’ve had to tackle was my hatred towards interview-based writing. I would put off every feature and profile I had to write until the night before it was due and was never able to be proud of what I’d written. The Animal Crossing story was one of the first features I was ever pleased with, and to see it win an award is a token of how I’ve improved, not only as a writer but as a person this year.”

3. Did you run into any difficulties writing this story?

“My second interviewee was late to the Zoom interview I had set up, and upon texting him with a reminder, he called me from his car ready to answer my questions. It was a very chill interview with great quotes, and he and I are even sort of friends now, but it was one of the first situations like that I’d ever had to tackle.”

Name: Abby Wright

Position on staff: Editor in Chief

Award: Second place, Personal Narrative

“I got deferred from my safety school, and it cracked all of my eggshells” is a story rooted in questions, yet it displays how when things crack, slivers of hope can shine through. Abby writes so that the reader can experience her feelings alongside her—she shares her pain with us. The column highlights her deferral from her safety school, the University of Oregon, and her aching for a Syracuse University acceptance is highlighted specifically in the tags.

1. What inspired you to write this story?

“Well, my inspiration was pretty simple; I wrote that column the day after I found out I was waitlisted from the University of Oregon, which I thought I had a pretty good chance of getting into. And I hadn’t gotten my Syracuse acceptance yet, so it really felt like everything was crumbling around me all at once, and I was a bit dramatic about it—I did sob while driving around and listening to Taylor Swift, and I took a picture of my ugly crying face, and I just wrote. I really wasn’t too proud of that story, actually, it was literally just a dump of all my feelings at that moment, like a diary entry, in a way, so I didn’t really expect to place in MIPA with this at all.”

2. What makes this piece special?

“This is really special not because of the words I wrote, necessarily, just all the feelings I was feeling at that moment. Fall was a really tough time for me this year in a lot of ways, the stress of college apps included, and I wanted Syracuse so badly. And seeing that I got waitlisted from a safety school before I got my Syracuse acceptance was really like a punch in the gut. I look back on that piece now and wish I could tell me, a few months ago, that it was all going to work out. But I’m proud of her for just writing it all out like I always do.”

3. Did you run into any difficulties writing this story?

“I’d say the difficulty in writing this story was just all the emotions I was feeling. And I didn’t really know how to convey them; I wish I conveyed them a bit more artfully like most of my poems are, but again, I wasn’t really thinking about how to carefully craft this crazy insanely good column. I was simply just sobbing and wanted to get all my feelings and thoughts and words out, and I just put it in the back end and attached my crying selfie and called it a day.”

Name: Coco Corey

Position on staff: Staff Writer

Award: Second place, Bylined Opinion Article

“Society promotes a beauty standard that goes against human biology” is an editorial piece that provides commentary on how both the modern world and industry play a role in ageism—especially targeting women. Coco delivers an effective message in the most inherently her way possible. She is an expert at weaving pieces of herself in with the difficult topics she tackles in her writing, making the stories that much more personal and enjoyable to read.

1. What inspired you to write this story?

“I was inspired to write this story mainly because there was a TikTok trend at the time where people would make videos with a filter on that showed them aged. Basically, everyone was attacking one another and themselves for how they looked with wrinkles, saying it was ugly or they hope they never grew old; this is definitely what gave me the idea to write the article and show the true meaning behind aging.”

2. What makes this piece special?

“I would say this piece is special because very few have heard of the ‘ageism’ concept. There were also mentionings of what the alternative to aging is, which I think really puts the whole concept in perspective.”

3. Did you run into any difficulties writing this story?

“I didn’t run into many; if anything, I think it was challenging to present ageism as a real issue since it seems a little unimportant.”

Name: Adam Hop

Position on staff: Sports Reporter

Award: Second place, Sports Columnist

“A week in the NFL” is a series consisting of six stories covering the past, present, and future of the organization. It highlights upcoming news and stars, alongside recaps—all weaved into one with Adam’s opinions and favorites. 

1. What inspired you to write this series?

“What inspired me to write the series was just being a big fan of football. At that time, the NFL Playoffs were in full swing, and there was no better time to be writing about the topic.”

2. What makes this series special?

“It features hot takes and predictions from all sides of the spectrum. You have to have a balance and taste in your hot takes, along with giving some of the most absurd opinions in your predictions. It keeps the readers on their toes and keeps them in the loop about what’s going on in the league.”

3. Did you run into any difficulties writing this story?

“I mean, every story has difficulties that you run into that hinder your ability to write the story, but in this case, a lot of prior knowledge about the NFL made my stories very easy to write. I think if you write about something you know a lot about, it will make your job a lot easier as a writer in knowing something so you don’t have to research the topic, and you can just write.”

Name: Linus Kaechele

Position on staff: Managing Editor of Online Assignments

Award: Third place, Columnist

“The beautiful lies of being a senior” is a two-part column highlighting how nothing is okay, especially for the 2021 graduating class. Linus’s struggles bring an important message to light: it’s time to stop pretending that everything is normal when it is more than obvious that it’s not. In the second part of this ongoing story, he takes on a different tone when accounting for the hard truths and tragedies of his senior year. Linus shifts his focus towards the positive and ends the piece with advice given through gratitude.

1. What inspired you to write this story?

“Honestly, the reason I wrote this story was a mix of being fed up with my senior year. Although my words were a bit intense, I do stand by them, and I think that writing about both the pretty and the ugly is an integral part of journalism. I think this column is one of the articles on the site that I am most proud of purely based on the fact that I took a big step outside of my comfort zone to write it and because it got me a MIPA award. It also shows how inspiration can come from anything because for the most part my columns are inspired by beautiful things and nature, but this column was inspired by anger and frustration and angst. I think this article shows that every story deserves to be told and that sometimes the stories you don’t expect to blossom are the ones people end up relating to most.”

2. What makes this piece special?

“What makes this article special is the fact that it is so completely different from anything else I have written for The Central Trend—aside from its sister column “The beautiful lies of being a senior: part two.” In the majority of my other articles, I try to emulate F. Scott Fitzgerald in my writing style by employing flowery word choice and an elegant and refined tone, but in this column, I just spilled every feeling out as if I was venting to my therapist. Because of this, my column retained an authenticity to it that my other columns lack; my other columns show what my writing style is while this column shows who I am.”

3. Did you run into any difficulties writing this story?

“It’s hard to pinpoint a specific difficulty for this column because, for me, all columns are difficult to write—not because they’re rigorous stories, but rather because they are entirely internal stories. Profiles, features, editorials, and reviews all rely on other people whether it be their words, actions, or policies, but columns—at least the ones I write—are based only on what I have to say. What made this column challenging was finding comfort in being vulnerable. In my other columns, I tend to layer metaphors to veil my true intentions for writing the article; this way, I leave my columns relatively open to interpretation, but I didn’t write this column to appeal to an audience—I wrote it for me and nobody else.”

Name: Linus Kaechele

Position on staff: Managing Editor of Online Assignments

Award: Third place, Environmental, Health, or Science

“From the greenhouse to the classroom to beyond, FHC is a beacon of environmental knowledge” details one of the school’s largest enigmas: the greenhouse. Linus describes ways in which a couple of students spend their time in the greenhouse, including how they ended up there in the first place. Along with this, he gives more background to the project in the first place—clearing up questions and educating readers on the purpose and the use of the greenhouse. Not only is this an informative piece, but Linus brilliantly highlights students’ love for environmental science by weaving in personal stories.

1. What inspired you to write this story?

“The inspiration for the environmental feature was my curiosity about the greenhouse. When I first starting setting up interviews, I was phrasing the questions for an article that would solely provide information about the greenhouse. But, as I conducted the interviews, I was really charmed by my sources and their passion for protecting the environment and raising awareness about climate change. That’s why this story ultimately turned into a dual feature: one about the greenhouse and what it does and the other about the stories behind those who operate it. Frankly put, this feature inspired me to change the way I acted more than anything inspired it. I think this feature is a prime example of how we, as writers for The Central Trend, aim to share the parts of a story that may get overlooked; while this story is about the greenhouse, it’s just as much a story about the people who help it flourish.”

2. Did you run into any difficulties writing this story?

“What made this story challenging was the topic. Science is not my forte, so it was a little bit intimidating to write a story that purely focused on environmental science. But it taught me a lot not only about the greenhouse, but also a lot about myself as a journalist. This story taught me that interviewing is not all about getting the perfect quote; it taught me that sometimes interviewing is about educating yourself on a topic so that you can create as educated and well-informed of an article as possible. In my interview with Mr. Scholten, he taught me a lot about the greenhouse, but he also gave me a quasi-crash-course of his APES class. Without the information he shared with me, the article would not have turned out the way it did, and I’m so thankful that I took a risk and wrote this story, but I’m even more thankful for the sources who took time out of their day to not only help me write the story, but educate me about one of the most important issues we face today.”