The American River Current is proud to recognize the achievements of its talented and hard-working student journalists, who achieved recognition at the statewide convention of community college student journalists April 3-6 in Burbank, Calif.

Jeff Gonzales, former editor-in-chief of the Current and president of the Northern California region of the Journalism Association of Community Colleges (JACC), volunteered much of his time to represent student journalism as others rallied to take his position for the upcoming year.

American River College students Cintia Lopez and Emily Rabasto each ran to become the next Northern California student president of JACC.

Rabasto was voted in by the Northern California community colleges that were in attendance.

Several on-the-spot competitions took place during the convention, testing the abilities of student journalists in their areas of expertise.

Sarah Scott, the Current’s design editor, took home the first place award in the design competition and received an honorable mention in the copy editing competition.

Rabasto took third place in the on-the-spot sports photo competition, in which students from around the state photographed the first half of a women’s water polo game at nearby Occidental College, and an honorable mention in the on-the-spot news photo competition.

For the third straight year, the Current won a general excellence award, an honor given to the top 20 percent of the community colleges represented at JACC.

Additionally, Walter Hammerwold, the Current’s adviser, was named board member at large for JACC, a position he will hold for the next three years.