Brody Heidemann is a senior at Gretna East and this is his second year on the Wingspan staff, but his third year doing online journalism. He was a reporter during his time at Gretna High and is now the Broadcast Editor here at Gretna East. During his high school journalism career, he was a part of the State Champion team last year as well as a third-place medalist in Newspaper Column Writing, Sports News and a fifth-place medalist in Opinion Writing. This year, he is hoping to break the bronze streak and return to the State competition to win gold. Heidemann joined journalism because of his love for sports. He loves writing about sports, talking about sports, asking questions about sports and practically anything involving sports. Because of this passion, he is doing an internship at 1620 The Zone this year. Some of his other hobbies include hanging out with friends, playing video games, swimming and spending time with his family. See more awards here.

Drew Rhoades is a senior at Gretna East and in his third year on a journalism staff. He serves as a reporter for the Wingspan. He joined journalism to pursue his passion for photography and writing sports stories.  He provides optimism and a good attitude to our newsroom, but that’s not the only thing he brings to this publication. He has won two NSAA State Journalism medals for Sports Writing and Newswriting and his goal for this year is to qualify for State again. Also, he hopes to help Gretna East Media take home the State title again.  Rhoades is also involved in basketball, golf, Future Business Leaders of America, Fellowship of Christian Athletes and class officers at GEHS. His hobbies outside of school include hanging out with friends and spending time by water. After high school, Drew plans to attend college in pursuit of a business degree.

Peyton Parker is a senior at Gretna East and this is his second year on the Wingspan staff. He serves as a reporter. Parker originally joined the staff to write stories about sports, but he hopes that he is able to write any kind of story.

Last year, he won first place in Sports Newswriting at the NSAA High School State Journalism competition and third place at the UNO High School Media Conference in Long-Form Audio.

He hopes to achieve victory at State again this year, write great stories and create fun, informative podcasts. In school, he is also involved in National Honor Society, and outside of school, he loves to play video games like Rocket League and Rainbow Six Siege.

Three words, he would describe himself as are funny, handsome and intelligent. His greatest goal in life is to make people laugh and smile. When he graduates, he hopes to write about sports in college and is planning to go to UNL.

See more awards here.

Easton Leahy is a senior at Gretna East in his first year on the Wingspan staff. He joined the staff to better develop his skills in the journalism field, work with new people from all different grades and learn to write stories. His goal this year is to build relationships with new people. Outside of Wingspan, he plays baseball. Leahy would describe himself as determined, open-minded and hardworking, putting his best in whatever he does. After high school, he will play baseball and study medicine at Wayne State College.