Ada Icon Editor Monty Siekerman spoke to the ONU chapter of the Society of Collegiate Journalists on Monday at the Freed Center, saying:

•The Icon meets the needs of the community by informing readers about events and people of interest to them.
•The Icon is highly successful with 28,000 pages read in January alone, up 42 percent from a year ago.
•it was named Business of the Year in 2016 by the Chamber of Commerce.
•The Ada Icon has 60 advertisers to support it.
•The Icon posts more than 50 news stories, with photographs, each week, which is digging out a lot of news in a community with 5,000 people and a campus of 3,200.

The Ada Icon, founded and owned by Fred Steiner, is an online newspaper serving primarily Ada, Alger and environs but has readership throughout the world. In 2016, people from 146 countries read the Ada Icon.

During his talk, Monty encouraged the future journalists to be passionate about their work, whether it be writing, photography, videography, or graphic design.

He explained how news is gathered, written, and posted.

He noted that the Society was formed by the merging of two honor societies, one of which was Alpha Phi Gamma. 

Alpha Phi Gamma was founded at Ohio Northern, then expanded to chapters throughout the county.

While a student at Hanover College, Monty was inducted into the honorary, eventually becoming a national Vice President.

Shane Tilton, who invited Monty to speak, is the adviser to the local Society and is currently a national Vice President. At ONU, Shane is an assistant professor of multimedia journalism.