Leo juniors Christian Armstrong and Willie Shelton, two of the students enrolled in the News Literacy course Leo is offering in conjunction with the national News Literacy Project, were student speakers at a News Literacy Project conference held at the Chicago Sun-Times on Friday, Feb. 19.
Armstrong and Shelton shared their experiences in the class and praised its value to the curriculum before a panel that included some of Chicago’s most distinguished current and former journalists, including Sun-Times Editor Jim Kirk and Don Wycliff, retired Editorial Page Editor of the Chicago Tribune. They also got to interact with featured speaker Michael Wilbon, a Chicago native and well-known ESPN personality who encouraged their interest in journalism.
Don Wycliff told President McGrath: Your young men, especially Christian, were the stars of that event. I’ve never heard a high school student give such an impressive talk, and all, seemingly, off the cuff. You’re a lucky man: Somebody you’ll be able to say of Christian, “I knew him when….”