The Illinois Valley Community College student newspaper earned top honors at the Illinois Community College Journalism Association annual conference in November.

The IV Leader was named Best Student Media and received first-place recognition for general excellence during the conference.

Individual staff members also won awards, including Sonja Penney and Abigail Beckcom for news story; Ashton Watkins and Makade Rios for news and sports photography; Sam Bima for sports coverage and columns; and Emma Coss for page design and editorial writing. The staff received numerous second- and third-place awards and honorable mentions.

The IVCC Board of Trustees recognized the achievements during its December meeting.

In her report to the board, President Tracy Morris recognized students in Professor Nora Villarreal’s English class who volunteered or raised funds to support community organizations, including the campus food pantry, a local homeless shelter, an animal shelter and a church program. The class involves students in service-learning opportunities.

Morris also reported that IVCC collected more than 2,600 food and basic needs items during the statewide community college Feed the Need drive, which ended Dec. 1.

In other business

The board adopted the 2025 tax levy, approved the purchase of updated faculty laptops for $93,000 and approved the purchase of a Transfr Trek career exploration system for the Workforce Development Division for $98,000 over five years.

The board also appointed Juhelia Thompson as psychology instructor.