Cougars Show Off Their Talent - My High School Journalism

Features
The Chronicle February & March 2010
A Look Inside the Journalism Class
By Ginny Barrett
Staff writer
Students who like to write,
make videos, and keep up
with news and events around
the school may be interested
in taking journalism.
Journalisms students
research and write stories
for The Chronicle, take
photos to accompany those
stories, make the videos for
the morning announcements,
sell ads, and learn to design
pages in Adobe InDesign.
“I like the class because
I like writing and taking
pictures,” said junior
Sarah Ferguson, who took
journalism I this fall.
Another student’s favorite
thing about the class is
the teacher. “I like how Mrs.
Norden always helps us and
is really caring and personal
with the students,” said senior
Conner Massei.
The Chronicle contains
many different stories
in each issue, so the staff
writes about all sorts of different
topics ranging from
sports, movies, local news
and events, music, and how
things worldwide are affecting
Fauquier County.
Students interview their
classmates, teachers, and
school staff to find out their
By Emmaleah Jones
Features Editor
March is National
Honors Society Awareness-
Month. Most people know
someone in the National
Honor Society, and that
they meet sometimes to accomplish
“stuff” but what
do they actually do?
This month (as well
as being NHS Awareness
Month) is the month when
sophomores who are eligible
(3.5 GPA or higher, involved
in the school and/or
extracurricular activities)
received a letter in their
homeroom inviting them to
join NHS.
Of the percentage of eligible
sophomores, many said
they were interested in joining
because it looks good on
college applications. However,
beyond that, they had
no idea what the purpose
behind NHS was.
Mrs. Beverly Hagberg,
one of the NHS sponsors,
stated that the general
purpose of NHS is community
service. and with a little
bit of research, it turns
out NHS was started in
1921 for that very reason.
Led by Chet Szwejkowski,
the NHS at Kettle
Run meets in Mrs. Hagberg’s
room the first Tuesday
of every month. During
these meetings, members
brainstorm ways to help
the community. However,
her first year in the class.
opinions.
“Writing stories can
be fun, but the hardest part
is getting quotes,” said Ferguson.
“Getting quotes for
stories allows me to walk
around the school and talk to
my friends,” said Massei.
Each page of the
newspaper needs photos
and the newspaper staff is
responsible for taking them.
Students use Photoshop to
crop and adjust the color of
the photos.
if you are not in the NHS,
don’t worry: they just set up
the community service. They
still need donations and volunteers!
Ashley West, a member
of NHS, urges everyone
who is invited, to join. “It is
really fun! Everyone is really
nice, and we have a lot of fun
together. It [being in the National
Honor Society] looks
“Being a photographer
makes me feel powerful!
And it’s fun,” Ferguson
exclaimed.
The videos that are
seen every morning are
also created by the journalism
class. The class works
in pairs, or small groups, to
write scripts, tape, and edit
the videos. Students learn to
use the video cameras and
how to upload and edit the
film.
“It’s really fun making
videos for the morning
announcements, especially
when I get to work with Olivia
Christopher,” said senior
Stephanie Hoffman, who has
been taking journalism since
eighth grade.
Students also try to
sell ads to local businesses,
which can be hard. These ads
appear in The Chronicle and
the money made is used to
offset the printing fees.
“I don’t sell ads, I
never have. I just don’t like
strangers,” said Ferguson.
Other students have tried
to sell ads but were not very
successful. “I tried to sell
some, it never worked,” said
Massei.
Some students sold them
to parents who own businesses.
“I sold one to my dad,”
said Hoffman.
Finally, all the completed
stories, their accompanying
photos, and any ads
sold, will be placed on their
pages. Students are responsible
for designing and placing
these items on the page.
The class then edits the pages
and stories for errors.
“My favorite part of
the class is using InDesign to
design pages,” said Hoffman.
Anyone interested in
these activities should consider
taking journalism next
year.
March is National Honor Society Awareness Month
6
Emmaleah Jones works on her page during Photo by Shelly Journal-
Norden
Freshman Emmaleah Jones edits pages using InDesign. This is
Members of the NHS take a picture for the yearbook.
great on college applications,
and it’s good to help people,”
West explained.
Hagberg enjoys her role
as a sponsor. “I enjoy the
people,” Hagberg said. “They
[NHS members] are some of
the coolest people, and it isn’t
just because they are funny
or smart: it is because they
genuinely care.”
Members of the NHS are
photo by Herff Jones
extending a helping hand to
Haiti. They are currently
selling ribbons with Haiti’s
flag colors for $1. They are
also taking donations in the
library for the Christian Relief
Services.
In addition to helping Haiti,
they are also planning a
blood drive on May 5th. Everyone
who is eligible is encouraged
to donate.
Teens’
Consumption
of
Media
Grows
By Sarah Ferguson
Staff Reporter
Facebook and
MySpace, The Jersey
Shore and American Idol,
Call of Duty and Rock
Band; these things are
taking over a vast majority
of teenagers’ lives.
In a recent study
done by the Henry J.
Kaiser Family Foundation,
it was found that
on average, teenagers
spend about 7.5 hours
a day consuming some
form of media. This has
increased two hours in
only five years. This includes
television, video
games, music, phone and
computer use.
About four and
a half hours are spent
watching television, two
and a half listening to
music, about an hour and
a half on the computer
and a little over an hour
playing video games per
day.
With social networking
sites such as
Twitter, Facebook, MySpace,
and Tumblr to
check, teenagers’ Internet
usage increases. Less
time is spent going out
places, doing homework,
or studying, and more
time is spent tweeting or
playing things like Farmville.
“I have a MySpace
and a Facebook,”
said junior Virginia Barrett.
“But I don’t get on
every day.”
Approximately
66% of all teenagers own
cell phones, which is an
increase of 27% in only
five years. A lot of teenagers
are self-proclaimed
“text-addicts” and spend
most of the day and
even into the night while
they’re trying to sleep
texting or talking on
their phones.
“I use my phone
all day, except during
school,” said Barrett. “I
text until I fall asleep.”
The newspaper and
magazine industry is
seeing harsh side effects
to this increase in media
consumption.
With all the news
posted on the Internet or
television, a decrease in
the purchase of items on
the newsstands is happening.