Senior Brayden Hansen is in his third year on the Wingspan staff and serves as the Wingspan’s Managing Editor. He is also the Co-Editor-in-Chief for the Guardian Yearbook.   Last year, he earned multiple awards at the NSAA High School State Journalism competition, including second place in Yearbook Feature Writing and third place in Newspaper Feature Writing, building on his previous success from his sophomore year in Editorial Writing. Hansen enjoys crafting opinion and feature stories and looks forward to growing his leadership and journalism skills across both staffs this year.  

When he’s not working on Wingspan or Yearbook assignments, Hansen can be found working, spending time with friends and family, grabbing a treat at Sonic, or capturing photos of the world around him. After high school, he plans to pursue a degree in journalism.

  See more awards here.

Madeline Petrick, otherwise known as Madie, is a senior who started her scholastic journalism career at Gretna High her freshman year, where she wrote for Gretna Media. With the opening of Gretna East, Petrick made the move and became a founding member of The Wingspan and Gretna East Media. That same year, she was appointed Editor-in-Chief and has retained the title ever since.   Throughout her time as a student journalist and editor, she has earned numerous individual awards and led her staff to several team awards at the local, state and national levels.  Some of her proudest accomplishments on staff include winning a combined eight individual awards in the NSAA State Journalism Championships in her first three years, and The Wingspan being named a 2025 NSPA Online Pacemaker Finalist as a second-year program.   Aside from her involvement with Gretna East Media, she is the Gretna Swim Team Captain, Student Council President, National Honor Society President, and a senior member of Gretna Live. Outside of school, she is a lifeguard and youth swim coach.    Due to her love of the field and nearly every aspect of it, Petrick hopes to pursue journalism after high school and eventually become a news anchor.   See more awards here.