Undergraduate students

achievements in the
School of Communication
By Lindsey Hardison - April 17, 2020

Onyx team members in the Quad

Illinois State University students have a lot to be proud of. Students utilize different
creative outlets to touch on crucial topics and implement change. 

Claire Bottom, Ian Roberds, Akila Howard, and Colin Connelly received an “Award of
Excellence” at the Broadcast Education Association’s Festival of Media Arts in the
Documentary Short Category. The documentary short is called Making a Mural and
delves into the controversy surrounding the removal of the mural in Uptown Normal. 
Collage of individuals with the mural in Uptown Normal. (Photo courtesy of the “Making a Mural”
Facebook page)

“By covering the mural, we enticed students, artists, government officials, concerned
and curious citizens and more,” said Bottom, co-director of the documentary. “We put
out some feelers when we first thought of it, and people immediately responded with
support.” 

Bottom said the most satisfying part of the experience was seeing everything tie
together in the end, and it was interesting seeing the interviewee’s statements link up
with one another. 

Another undergraduate student who has achieved great things during her time at Illinois
State is Tiffani Jackson-Skinner, a junior majoring in journalism. Jackson-Skinner
created a black student-run media outlet called Onyx that continues to expand. A year
after its creation, Ryan Denham at WGLT reached out to Jackson-Skinner after seeing
the success of Onyx and asked her to join the station. She covers stories about the
black and minority community, contributing to her goal of displaying more excellence
from underrepresented communities in local media outlets. 

Jackson-Skinner dove into history to learn about the injustices minorities have faced.
One of her main goals was to create a “Black Wall Street” that would provide resources
for black students that attend predominantly white institutions due to there being a lack
of stores catering to black culture. 
Onyx team members in the Quad

“In addition to helping student businesses gain exposure, we find black and minority
faculty and staff on campus, as incoming students don’t know who they can go to for
educational resources, that look like them,” Jackson-Skinner said. “We cover events
held in the minority community, which I noticed rarely get any coverage from other
media outlets, yet when something big and negative happens, everyone tries to be the
first there.” 

Onyx started out in fall 2018 only with Jackson-Skinner and photographer/co-
founder Onoriode Dugbo. They worked on a newsletter that introduced new businesses,
faculty members, and student and Greek organizations. Onyx has a segment on black-
owned radio station WXRJ 94.9 every Saturday night called “In the Mix with Onyx.”
Their team has now grown to be over 25 student photographers, reporters, and graphic
designers. 

Visit Onyx’s website, www.theonyxconnect.com, and follow Onyx on Twitter. 

The Vidette students with their awards at IPA. (Photo courtesy of The Vidette’s website)

Those at The Vidette, Illinois State’s student run newspaper, deserve recognition as
well. Staff and sub-editors at The Vidette won 29 awards at the Illinois College Press
Association in February 2020. The newspaper placed first in overall General
Excellence, which recognizes the newspaper as a whole. It was an
aggressive competition in a total of 30 categories. The Vidette left ICPA with a total
of four first-place awards and 13 second-place awards. 

Visit The Vidette’s website at www.videtteonline.com.

The inaugural “Image of Research at Illinois State” competition invited Illinois State
students to create or capture one static image of their research and to write a brief
narrative explaining how the image relates to their research. Students were asked to
choose compelling images to capture the viewers’ attention. The images could take any
form, including photographs, drawings, or digital creations, and could convey the
research concretely or abstractly.  “Recoloring a Colorless Community: The Rhetoric
and Discourse over the New Pride Flag” was graduate student, Rocky Roque’s, entry,
and he won “Honorable Mention.”  Congratulations Rocky!
Rocky Roque, COM graduate student