2026 Impact Award winner honors legacy of assistant principal with ALS

The Student Journalist Impact Award, co-sponsored by the Journalism Education Association and Quill and Scroll International Honorary Society for High School Journalists, recognizes secondary school students who, through the practice of journalism, have made a significant difference in the lives of others. This year the award goes to a group of reporters from The Quaker Quill at Friends School of Baltimore, advised by Mary Wiltenburg.

2026 Student Journalist Impact Award winner

A total of 38 students in five grades – writers, print editors, photographers, video editors and designers – spent four months documenting Assistant Principal Christine Koniezhny’s experience with ALS, and her choice to keep working until she could no longer breathe unassisted.

In 6,000 words, 40 photos, a video, an original painting and two columns on the reporting process, the students honored her life and legacy. The resulting profile explored many topics, from what ALS does to a body, to what makes a great teacher. The reporters covered disability rights and how the school could improve accessibility on campus. They discussed how to be there for someone who is suffering.

They finished the piece 36 hours before Koniezhny died. At that point, she was still herself mentally, but her body was almost completely paralyzed. She communicated with a high-tech eye-gaze device that broadcast words as she typed them, using recordings of her voice that she had banked the summer before. Her partner, Danny Mydlack, told the staff she took in the article and video and typed two words: “perfect” and “full.”

They published the piece Feb. 28, hours before Koniezhny moved to hospice. She died early in the morning March 2. The story, Always Learning, already has more than 2,000 views.

“The piece has evolved to become more than just a tribute, but a moment of collective reflection, helping students, faculty, alumni and families understand both the profound impact Christine had as an educator and the realities of living and working with ALS,” wrote Upper School Assistant Principal Travis Henschen. “By documenting the ways Christine continued teaching and leading while navigating ALS and assistive technologies, the interviews and article encouraged our community to think more deeply about how schools can better support people living with disabilities. In this way, the piece helped broaden awareness and understanding of accessibility in schools and society.

“Most importantly, the work brought people in our extended community together. In a time of grief, the article became a shared space and touchstone for remembrance, reflection and connection.”

Honorable Mention

Honorable mention is given to Doan Nguyen and Christian Warner from The ReMarker at St. Mark’s School of Texas in Dallas, advised by Jenny Dial Creech.

As editor-in-chief, Warner worked with enterprise editor Nguyen on multiple projects this school year, including one for the new documentary film class they are both taking. For this, they focused on a South Sudanese refugee family with a single dad responsible for six children.

“Amid a historically bloody revolution back in their home country, we wanted to raise awareness for what goes on beyond the bubble in which many seem to comfortably remain,” Warner wrote. “Seeing the family over the course of several months was especially impactful to us. Waking up early on a Saturday morning or heading over for a late-night shoot on a school day was never challenging or laborious. Their smiles and countenance rewarded us far beyond anything material ever could; it was representation for people who genuinely needed it.”

While working on the documentary, they wanted to cover the same “phenomenon of apathy or cluelessness toward others’ lives.” They did this in the October 2025 edition of The ReMarker through the story Family Frameworks, which focused on how historically untraditional familial structures manage themselves and find stability, creating a household that truly thrives.

“The reception to both pieces reaffirmed why we do this work,” Warner wrote. “The families featured in Family Frameworks responded with an outpouring of gratitude, sending in personal notes that reminded us how powerful it can be to simply see yourself represented with care and honesty.”