On March 1, the first twelve members of Quill and Scroll were inducted into the program since the school had first received the charter in 1941.The ceremony, organized by advisors Mr. Aaron Fitzpatrick and Ms. Sara Miller, started at 7 p.m. with family members, faculty and school board members in attendance to see the students be the first ones to be a part of this program.

Quill and Scroll is a high school journalism society that over 14,000 high schools are a part of nationally, as well as being established in 44 other countries. The organization was founded based on recognizing and encouraging student journalism. In order for students to be eligible, students must have a GPA of 3.5 or higher, be in the top 25 of their class, be of a junior or senior standing, have produced superior work in the field of journalism and have their applications reviewed by an anonymous committee.

During the ceremony, each of the students had an important part to contribute. Junior Claudia Huggins was the first person to fulfill her role by lighting the Candle of Truth, which represented the truth that all journalists must report. Next up was senior Jessica Palakovich lighting the Candle of Learning, along with junior Myla Sharpless lighting the Candle of Leadership. Then seniors Rachel DeCesaris, Kayla Eaton, Jon Kaercher lit the Candles of Loyalty, Initiative and Integrity, respectively. Lastly, junior Melissa Keith lit the Candle of Judgement and senior Ava Colorito lit the Candle of Friendship. All of the candles represented characteristics that every journalist must possess in order to be successful.

Next up, senior Morgan Stewart and junior Taylor Greene introduced the Keynote Speaker Ms. Christine Arbuckle Gipko, who graduated from Freedom in 1999 and now works as a Web Communications Manager at Duquesne University. During her speech, she congratulated the new members and told them the importance of journalism in today’s world and how it impacts people in the public. High school principal Mr. William Deal also went up onto the stage and congratulated everyone, saying that if it had not been for him finding the FHSP so he could learn about what Freedom was like, he would probably not be working as the principal at Freedom.

To conclude the ceremony, members received pins and certificates that showed that they had now become members of the new Quill and Scroll Society at Freedom. The members all then took the initiation pledge and the ceremony was concluded with an ending speech from juniors Jenna Engel and Trisha Speicher.

“I hope that their induction helps them realize how important journalism is in today’s world. We had previously not had an organization or an honor for students involved in media before Quill and Scroll and I really hope that by showing them by how important we believe what they are doing is that they know that and become or continue to be excellent examples for their peers that are doing the same thing and hopefully inspire future classes and students to follow in their footsteps,” Fitzpatrick said.