It was like a trip down memory lane for many in the fourth period Advanced Journalism class, especially for returning staffers.

The 31 students seated in Room 138 watched as a familiar visitor, wearing a maroon Accolade jacket and USC baseball cap, entered the front of the room and plopped down a cooler bag on a desk.

He then turned toward the large ViewSonic monitor behind him to open a YouTube browser, typing a video title into the search window for the audience to watch and listen to. The music of the 1980s Kool & the Gang’s song “Celebration,” enveloped the classroom, creating an upbeat and triumphant mood among the students. 

“I was busy drawing a comic because the deadline was that week,” graphics editor senior Ryan Shin said. “I heard his voice, and I looked up, and I saw him in gym shorts, and it was really surreal because I didn’t think he would come back so early in the first semester.”

Similarly, data team leader senior Jiseong Yoo said he was shocked by the guest’s appearance.

“I was about to sit down in my seat, and I heard people talking about him, so I turned around and I saw him walking through the door,” Yoo said. “I didn’t expect him to be here, and it was really surprising to see him back.”

On her way to fourth period, third-year Accolade staffer senior Irene Park said the nostalgia hit her even before she stepped into the classroom.

“I realized the moment I saw [the visitor coming] out of his car with that giant bag, something clicked… Seeing him put up the celebration song on the board and everything made me feel like we were back in the past,” said Park, this school year’s co-editor-in-chief. “It was a nice flashback, and I was glad to see him again.”

That flashback occurred on Thursday, Sept. 11, and the celebration was related to what the National Scholastic Press Association (NSPA) announced via Zoom barely more than an hour before his arrival. 

Last year’s four Accolade newsmagazines were nominated among the 29 newspaper/newsmagazine finalists for the NSPA’s annual Pacemaker award, making it the third straight year and the fourth time in five years that the program has received such an honor. 

The nominees and images of one of their issues were then posted on the NSPA website along with a news release. Only 17 will be awarded a Pacemaker plaque on Saturday, Nov. 15, at the JEA/NSPA National High School Journalism Convention in Nashville, Tennessee. The Accolade has won three Pacemakers, with the two most recent coming from the past two years.

“The Pacemaker is the association’s preeminent award,” said the NSPA’s executive director, Laura Widmer, in a press statement. “NSPA is honored to recognize the best of the best.”

SURPRISE, SURPRISE

Last year’s journalism teacher/adviser, Tommy Li — the Sept. 11 visitor — said he was aware since the beginning of that week that the NSPA was going to make its 11 a.m. announcement via Zoom on Thursday, Sept. 11, when he saw a Sept. 8 post about it on the NSPA Facebook page.

“I emailed my successor [Christopher D’Innocente] on Sept. 9 and asked if he would be OK with me making a surprise visit to the fourth period Accolade class if we got nominated, and he emailed me back and graciously gave me the OK to do so,” Li said. “I then told him I would text him that day if I would be coming or not sometime during third period.”

Li told the class at the start of his visit that he was dressed in shorts and past Accolade gear because he had been playing pickleball in La Habra with other retired SH teachers during the 11 a.m. NSPA Zoom session. Although he tried to record the virtual meeting, his laptop had some technical difficulties, and he was unable to do so.

“When I realized the recording didn’t work, I called the NSPA office in Minnesota, and the lady who answered the phone told me the same information will be posted by 11:30 a.m.,” he said. “So once I saw the NSPA website posting, and Sunny Hills was listed among the high schools to be named a finalist, I texted the new adviser that I would be coming.”

After playing less than a minute of the “Celebration” music video — a tune Li usually blasted from his laptop speakers in the past whenever the journalism program or someone on staff was being recognized for a contest or competition — he opened the NSPA website page honoring the 2025 Pacemaker finalists.

The retired instructor especially highlighted to the staff how rare it was to receive such an honor.

“The word pacemaker means that it’s a publication that’s setting the pace nationwide,” Li said. “For publications all over the country and beyond.”

After the visit, Li added, “Unfortunately, the NSPA folks don’t tell us how many other Orange County journalism programs submitted their work for Pacemaker finalist consideration, but the fact that we were the only one from the OC listed means quite a lot.”

The NSPA news release noted that of the 29 finalists from high school journalism programs, those from California led the way with 12, followed by Texas with eight. Of the California schools, 10 nominees were from the northern part of the state. The only other Southern California program to receive a Pacemaker finalist nod was The Mirror from Van Nuys High School.

SURPRISE, SURPRISE ALSO FOR LAST YEAR’S ACCO EDITORS

To highlight Accolade’s finalist nomination, the NSPA chose to include an image of the first issue cover from last September, an unexpected honor for many. An image featuring three girls flag football quarterbacks and head coach Dylan Khun holding a football, the cover teased readers to turn to the sports section to read more about the school’s inaugural year fielding a girls flag football team, written by then business manager and Spotlight team reporter Ashley Kang.

“Honestly, I wasn’t sure that we would receive this high level of recognition, and I never thought it would be for the first issue,” said last year’s editor-in-chief, Alexxa Berumen, who majors in communications in her first year at the University of California, Davis. “I thought that our later issues would have a better chance to get highlighted as we developed our skills more later in the year.”

Berumen said she found out about the nomination a few minutes after Li’s appearance on campus via text message from web editor-in-chief Aashna Dialani, last year’s co-Opinion editor. 

“I felt very proud of the work that the print team put in last year,” she said. “I think all of our staff members had amazing work ethics, and their willingness to stay late after school really contributed to the magazine issues being so successful.”

Another of the top editors from last year, Christine Yoo, said she found out about the recognition through Berumen, who had texted her after being notified by Dialani.

“I was really surprised since it was the first magazine that Alexxa and I produced, and honestly, I didn’t have high hopes for that specific issue to be nominated as a finalist,” said Yoo, the 2023-2024 managing editor who is planning to major in psychology at Harvard University in Boston. “When I found out, I was really happy and really excited for the program, and I think getting this nomination really helped solidify my and Alexxa’s work for the magazine.”

Looking back on their past issues, Yoo said she believes the publication’s focus on the school community helped contribute to The Accolade’s Pacemaker finalist nod. She pointed especially to a new feature called “Lancer Life,” a Q&A section offering snapshots of a student’s experiences and daily life on campus. 

“A really big thing that Mr. Li wanted Alexxa and me to focus on was the student body when we were reporting… that’s why we included ‘Lancer Life,’” she said. “Even with the cover of the first issue, I think pinpointing the girls flag football team on the front cover was really impactful because in that magazine, especially, we got to really share the voices of the student body and the stories that a lot of students have but aren’t really heard by the majority of the campus.”

“So I think being able to find those kinds of details and report on the news like that just made the magazine feel a lot more cohesive and focused on our community, which I think was a really attractive and unique point.”

The decision to feature the head coach with his three quarterbacks was deliberate, highlighting a historic moment as the school fielded its first girls flag football team, a season after other Orange County and CIF campuses began competing.

As one of the 2023-2024 Sports editors, managing editor senior Lauren Kang said winning the Pacemaker was especially impactful.

“As a Sports editor, it was really cool seeing my section be spotlighted on the cover, and I think that helped play a part in our nomination as well,” Lauren Kang said. “It’s nice knowing that the hard work I put in was able to play at least a small role in our success.”

Social media team member and staff reporter junior Emily Lee, who had posted the distribution of the first issue on the program’s Instagram last year, said the recognition was a full-circle experience for her.

“I feel really proud that all our hard work was able to get us a Pacemaker,” Lee said. “I remember making the post for the first issue for our social media page, and even then, I knew the magazine had potential.” 

ONE MORE SURPRISE FOR THE STAFF

During Li’s Sept. 11 visit to The Accolade classroom, he also shared with the fourth period students an anecdote about how last year’s front cover image came together.

We were talking about all these different designs, and the last day we had to submit our PDF files, I told them, ‘Hey guys, I talked to the flag football coach, let’s go get these people together, go out there, let’s do a posed shot,’” he said. “Now nationwide, everybody is seeing this, everybody is jealous they don’t have theirs on there.”

He timed his appearance on the last two days before this year’s top editors were to submit their PDFs of the first issue for the 2025-2026 school year.

“Someday, Mr. D’s name will be on there, and our three top editors will be on there,” Li said.

The former teacher wrapped up his presentation with two final activities that he’s done in past staff celebrations: leading the Accolade cheer and handing out candy from his portable cooler bag. 

“I told Mr. Dino I wanted him to see what I used to do with my staff before, so he can decide whether to do something similar or to come up with something that he’s more comfortable with in the future, since he’s now in charge of the program,” Li said. “I also wanted to surprise the staff with a new treat — chocolate candy bars called ‘Good News,’ which I spotted in the candy section of my local Ralph’s recently. I took a picture of them with my phone and made a mental note to be sure to get them for Accolade staffers if we were to get nominated for a national award.

“I’m sure glad they stayed cool and didn’t melt in my portable cooler throughout that hot, summer day when the cooler was in the trunk of my car while I was playing pickleball.”

He then separated the class into two sides and led them through their Accolade and Pacemaker cheers.

“After he announced our nomination and started passing out the chocolate bars, it was kind of funny and nostalgic because it’s a tradition we’ve always had since Journalism 1,” said co-Opinion editor junior Kyuwon Han, a third-year staffer. “It was also really fun to do the Accolade chant because his enthusiasm was really contagious.”

His first Accolade celebration, data team member sophomore Bradyn Chiang said, the experience was overwhelming yet touching.

“I was very intimidated and shocked because there was no warning whatsoever,” Chiang said. “The Accolade chant was very funny, and I was laughing a lot because Mr. Li was so energetic.”

EYES ON THE PRIZE

As of the end of September, D’Innocente said he doesn’t plan on traveling to Nashville to attend the convention and accept the 10 ¾-inch-high-by-8 ½-inch Pacemaker finalist plaque award and potentially the larger 13-inch-high-by-10 ¾-inch Pacemaker plaque, which would feature that same girls flag football cover.

“My friend from [Medill Cherubs] camp said she plans to attend, so I’m looking at my schedule and asking my parents about it,” Park said. “I’ll be really excited if I can go.”

Administrators have in the past encouraged students and the adviser on staff to raise the money to pay for the trip on their own without any funding assistance from the school’s budget.

Li said he’s considering going to Tennessee if he can come up with the money to finance the trip and include his wife and one of his daughters, senior Serenity, who is a co-A&E editor on staff this year.

Meanwhile, does the former adviser plan any more surprises for the rest of this school year for this year’s staff?

“Maybe. Or if we do get another national award, like from the Columbia Scholastic Press Association, I may just leave it up to Mr. D’Innocente to decide how he wants to handle it,” Li said. “The Accolade is all his now, and so it may not be a good idea for me to keep showing up every so often. I’m sure he’ll have his own celebrations to come in time.” 

Co-editor-in-chief senior Nicole Park is also optimistic that this year’s publications will uphold the program’s legacy of excellence.

“Just because we got a new adviser doesn’t mean that the quality of our reporting or of our print production should decrease at all,” Nicole Park said. “I think we should be able to achieve this by continuing our tradition of hard work and good reporting, but also not being afraid to make changes to any methods or processes that are in place and attempt new things as well.”

D’Innocente also shared this commitment to maintaining the program’s momentum.

“It means a lot to me, as a first-year adviser, to continue this legacy and continue all the good work,” D’Innocente said. “There is a system that clearly works, and so we just have to make sure that we’re not easing up off the gas.”