The News on News
Eraina Tyson
Eraina Tyson
Unbeknownst to the majority of the Hillgrove High School population is the journalism elective course. Even though it is labeled as an elective, the course allows students to acquire knowledge with the same quality of importance as a core class. It is a writing class which introduces students to new social skills, contrasting opinions and school wide events in order to compose the school paper.
Senior, Mikayla Roberts has been involved with the journalism pathway for three years now, having started the class in her second semester of sophomore year. As the teacher's intern in the classroom and editor for the school newspaper, she is very familiar with the dynamics of the course, and cares deeply for its success.
“I joined this course out of interest because I knew that I wanted to improve my writing skills. Many people might believe, with the simple knowledge of the course being non academic, that journalism is not as difficult a class to get through. In actuality though, the structure is very rigorous and acts as a college prep course. The work ethic is held at such a high standard because each student is required to responsibly attain 3 interviews and compose a completed article in every Friday."
Aside from the aspect of an experienced participant, many new young writers have entered the journalism class this semester, aiding greatly in the production of the school paper. Each with their own interests, breaking out of their comfort zone as a result of writing on different topics. These range from sports, arts and entertainment and opinions to actual informational news on current worldly events. This is sophomore Madelyn LaPrade’s first taste of the class’s the tight preparative structure.
“I joined journalism out of curiosity; I didn't even know that the school had a newspaper! At first I thought it was going to be easy since there weren’t any tests, quizzes or book work, but once we began to write seriously I knew it was going to be a hard. I don’t really know what I was expecting the work to be like at the beginning. The most challenging parts of the course were finding intriguing topics, thinking of interview questions and adapting the new style of writing. Since I have been writing much more, I do believe that my writing has improved. I wanted to try something new so this was a good experience to see how this kind of pathway actually works.”
Journalism at Hillgrove is still very underground. When asked about their thoughts on class or knowledge of the school paper, many students were astounded that something like that was even offered in their school. “I do know what journalism is because I have an aunt who works at the Chicago Tribune [a daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States, owned by Tronc, Inc.], but I did not know of an actual newspaper writing class here. I never hear anyone talking about the school paper but I know that we have one. I think that having a course such as this is good in that it gives insight and experience in a field that people with those interests may want to work in. I would think that the difficulties of the class are just under those of an official core class. I would assume the people in the class could gain social skills from interviewing strangers and how to write in a more creative matter.”, says student Nick Dillon.
The introduction of journalism in a high school setting demonstrates a community tending to the needs of young people’s interests, providing them with the capability and confidence to pursue and perform comfortably in their field of choice.
Senior, Mikayla Roberts has been involved with the journalism pathway for three years now, having started the class in her second semester of sophomore year. As the teacher's intern in the classroom and editor for the school newspaper, she is very familiar with the dynamics of the course, and cares deeply for its success.
“I joined this course out of interest because I knew that I wanted to improve my writing skills. Many people might believe, with the simple knowledge of the course being non academic, that journalism is not as difficult a class to get through. In actuality though, the structure is very rigorous and acts as a college prep course. The work ethic is held at such a high standard because each student is required to responsibly attain 3 interviews and compose a completed article in every Friday."
Aside from the aspect of an experienced participant, many new young writers have entered the journalism class this semester, aiding greatly in the production of the school paper. Each with their own interests, breaking out of their comfort zone as a result of writing on different topics. These range from sports, arts and entertainment and opinions to actual informational news on current worldly events. This is sophomore Madelyn LaPrade’s first taste of the class’s the tight preparative structure.
“I joined journalism out of curiosity; I didn't even know that the school had a newspaper! At first I thought it was going to be easy since there weren’t any tests, quizzes or book work, but once we began to write seriously I knew it was going to be a hard. I don’t really know what I was expecting the work to be like at the beginning. The most challenging parts of the course were finding intriguing topics, thinking of interview questions and adapting the new style of writing. Since I have been writing much more, I do believe that my writing has improved. I wanted to try something new so this was a good experience to see how this kind of pathway actually works.”
Journalism at Hillgrove is still very underground. When asked about their thoughts on class or knowledge of the school paper, many students were astounded that something like that was even offered in their school. “I do know what journalism is because I have an aunt who works at the Chicago Tribune [a daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States, owned by Tronc, Inc.], but I did not know of an actual newspaper writing class here. I never hear anyone talking about the school paper but I know that we have one. I think that having a course such as this is good in that it gives insight and experience in a field that people with those interests may want to work in. I would think that the difficulties of the class are just under those of an official core class. I would assume the people in the class could gain social skills from interviewing strangers and how to write in a more creative matter.”, says student Nick Dillon.
The introduction of journalism in a high school setting demonstrates a community tending to the needs of young people’s interests, providing them with the capability and confidence to pursue and perform comfortably in their field of choice.