Journalism class publishes first printed newspaper

Every community needs a newspaper, whether it be a town, a county – or a school. The journalism class at Sundance High School proudly distributed the first printed copy of Red & White last week, a four-page monthly newspaper written for and by the students.

Things have come a long way since Molly Amann, Editor, began taking the class as a freshman.

“I was the only journalism student for about two years, and then the third year it grew to four people and now we have eight,” she says.

“We really wanted to focus on something we could do that was big, that was new…We focused on putting something together that the school has never seen before.”

Red & White was introduced on regular paper but, thanks to a donation from the Black Hills Pioneer, the first issue this year appears on actual newsprint. “That made it even better,” Amann grins.

Working as a team, the eight students in Ms. Jennifer Jungwirth’s class each took on stories and tasks to put together a newspaper full of information and variety. Amann’s lead story, for instance, looks at the student council’s focus on “everyone supporting everyone”.

“When I write stories, I try to zero them down to Sundance High School. [If] it’s something that’s going on in the town, we always try to bring it back to the school,” she says.

“I wanted to do something that was important, new, that people would want to read about and I wanted it to fit in with our new paper.”

Gavin Robinson felt inspired to write an editorial about coffee when he stumbled across the fact that it was first discovered by an Ethiopian goat-herder in a forest.

“I started off writing it as an essay,” he says. “I just moved and went past that and tried to make an actual story and I went to Wild West Espresso and interviewed Autumn.”

Jessica Niemeyer contributed a comic strip, utilizing her love of art in a new way.

“I do drawing all the time, but I don’t normally do comics, so it was a new experience for me,” she says.

“I really enjoyed it – I love drawing, it’s one of my favorite things in the whole world.”

Elizabeth Davis wrote an article about the Christian youth events available in the local area.

“Being a Christian myself and having experienced a lot of really cool events, I thought they are a really fun way to spend time,” she says.

Davis realized she could share this information in the newspaper so that her peers could benefit from it too. “It made me feel good that I could contribute in this kind of way,” she says.

Ty Holloman was inspired to write a book review about Divergent, a recent addition to her favorite’s list that she wanted her schoolmates to try. “Honestly, I didn’t start reading until this year so I wanted to do something with that because it’s my new favorite hobby,” she laughs.

Tony Villegas wrote about the girls’ golf team claiming their first ever state title. In the process, he experienced a panic familiar to every journalist when the story needed to change at the last minute.

“I started writing how the practices and stuff were going and went from there. I ended up getting behind a bit with the writing so Molly came in and helped out and took charge,” he says.

It was just a matter of experience, Amann is quick to point out. For many members of the team, this was an entirely new way of working, so she was happy to step in and assist.

“Everybody worked really hard and got it done and it was super cool to see,” she says.

Other sections of the paper include the Teacher Spotlight, which Amann took charge of.

“Kids really enjoyed it and it was something that actually got people talking about the newspaper the most,” she says. “We wanted something that was kind of fun where you could relate to teachers more and see a little bit inside their personal life versus seeing them as just a teacher.”

Rhianna Heaster meanwhile put together the Bulldog Bites, covering important information for students on everything from Homecoming activities to keeping the hallways clean.

“I’m the student body president and my student council does Homecoming, so I knew what was going on,” she says. She also included outside information from the community that she felt her peers could benefit from.

The team made use of their connections to put together a full-coverage sports page. Villegas is on the golf team, for example, while Heaster’s sister does volleyball, Amann’s brother is on the football team and Briska Johnson’s brother runs cross country.

“In a small school it’s pretty easy to get the information but it’s still a lot of work,” Amann grins.

Heaster enjoyed preparing her volleyball story, she says, because she was able to come up with a different angle that she felt people would enjoy reading.

“Instead of focusing on how well they are doing, I wanted to focus on how much of a team they are, how good friends they are,” she says.

The students met plenty of challenges along the way: writing in a different style, time management, figuring out how to find information for a story (and what to do if you can’t) and learning interview techniques. Heaster found herself somewhat surprised when the sports statistics she asked for arrived half-eaten by the author’s dog.

For Johnson, the biggest hurdle was finding the best way to ask questions and overcome natural feelings of shyness. “But they were really nice about it, so it was ok,” she smiles.

Amann is confident her team will overcome the hurdles. Having taken on all these challenges by herself for a couple of years, she knows that practice will make perfect.

“They’re going to get it and they’re going to love it. To be honest, I wasn’t that passionate about yearbook or journalism or anything when I first started doing it – it was just a class – but now I love it and I think I see some people here who will love it too,” she says.

Now the program is growing, Amann says she has noticed support from the school and students doing the same. It’s not hard to convince people to give her a quote anymore, she laughs.

“We take lot of help from the community and we always thank them,” she says, explaining that community members and fellow students are particularly helpful when it comes to photographs.

“We really appreciate when people support us.”

The young journalists are finding their feet and figuring out which parts of the newspaper cycle appeal to them. “My favorite thing ever is to edit,” says Heaster, sharing her plan to take on proofreading duties for the next issue (though she may need to share with Holloman, who feels exactly the same).

“My favorite role is probably being the leader and passing on what I do, what I know and my failures to other people,” Amann says.

“I wasn’t sure about doing this at first, but after doing the first paper I’ll be doing this again next year,” adds Robinson, while, for Niemeyer, the most rewarding part of the process is the end.

“Getting the students involved is a really good thing,” she nods. “Yesterday, we handed out a lot of newspapers during class…and I think it’s really cool that a lot of the students actually want to look at the newspaper. I think it brings the community closer together, in a way.”

The group is already planning the next issue, with potential headlines from the impact of vaping and smoking to the Wyoming Association of Student Councils meeting and end-of-season sports coverage. This will be Amann’s last year on the staff, but she hopes her team will stick with it.

“Everybody here has actual talent,” she says. “Everybody worked so hard and I’m so proud of them.”

Of course, the students are adamant that none of this would be possible without Ms. Jungwirth.

“She’s the best teacher in the school,” enthuses Heaster, echoed by Amann and several others.

The newspaper staff thanks the school, the students and the community for their support so far and encourages everyone to grab a copy of Red & White to keep up with SHS news.