Where are you from? What high school did you go to? What was the type/name of publication?

I am from Huntsville, Alabama. I went to Bob Jones High School and we had two publications that I worked on: bjhspatriotpages.com, an online newspaper, and The Eclectic, an annually published literary magazine.

 

Describe the publication a little bit: how big was the staff? How did y'all fund yourselves? What was your role and involvement?

The staff fluctuated depending on how many people would sign up. We had three classes that would contribute the most. Creative Writing and Multimedia Design were the introduction classes and the upper-level class that did the beef of the work was called Multimedia Publications. Creative Writing and Multimedia Design would have 2-4 classes each year, with 25 students in each class. Multimedia Publications was an invite-only spring class that had 20 people on staff. So 100+ people could be contributing to both publications hypothetically, but really around 5-10 people were active editors. My advisor was adamant about not spending our time fundraising and selling ads as the Yearbook kids did. We received funding through the state as we were distinguished as a career technical elective, class fees, and grants. I have worn every hat for both of our publications. For Patriot Pages, I was the editor-in-chief and I lived and breathed that paper. It was my life and I had no problems with it. I love that paper with everything in me. I spent all my time writing, editing, helping others find a love for media as I had. The Eclectic was only published once a year, but it is 300+ pages so it dominated my life in the spring semester. It was one of the most rewarding experiences of my life being able to contribute to 4 issues and actively be an editor for 3. My official roles for The Eclectic was web editor, feature section editor, art team director, and social media runner. Unofficially, I have done the role of the layout editor, using InDesign to create the magazine and general editor.

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Why did you decide to join the publication in high school? 

My brother was one of the founding members of our newspaper and a major contributor to the mag, and he built such a loving, fun community that I wanted too. Also, I wanted to be a writer. I didn't know much about journalism when I took creative writing, but after I was set on being a journalist. Some of the best memories I have are from lit mag hell week, the week before we go to the printer. We would stay at the school till 2 in the morning writing, editing, designing, and most importantly, bonding. We dubbed ourselves the late night league and I still am close with the crew. I also remember going to three of the JEA/NSPA conventions in LA, Seattle, and San Francisco. Not only did I get to go to amazing cities and learn from the best, but I made so many memories with my advisor and my peers. On our trip to San Francisco, I remember a homeless man chased us through downtown and we literally ran for our lives. ‘Twas traumatic but basically cemented my friendship with that group of girls.

 

One of my favorite memories was being named the 2018 Alabama Journalist of the Year. I was in Tuscaloosa for a Model UN conference and my teacher basically being SUPER vague told me I had to go to the ASPA award ceremony and miss my first committee (which, would basically take me out of the running for winning any delegate awards). I trusted her and I went. The Eclectic and Patriot Pages won All Alabama and I was thrilled. Then, I was awarded the Bailey Thompson Award for Editorial Writing. I remember thinking how grateful I was, but then my advisor, Mrs. Panagos, signaled to me that that wasn't it. Then they announced my name for JOY and it was the purest experience. When I looked over at Mrs. Panagos she looked so proud of me, she had tears in her eyes and that was worth the world to me. She has made me into the person I am and impacted my life more than anyone ever has. I wouldn't have won AL JOY without her and I am still shocked that I got it, even a year later. (Also, I ended up winning an award at Model UN despite being gone for the first committee so roll tide!)

 

What were the strengths of the publication? The weaknesses?

We definitely had a hard time with being timely and staying hyperlocal, but a lot of our writers have niches and whenever they would publish, it would be ~amazing~. While sometimes we have sub-par content, I was always blown away by individual writers and their passion. We also lacked central leadership since we were spread out over different classes and semesters. But, we made do and we really utilized our online format.

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Why did you decided to continue your involvement in scholastic journalism into college? How has it benefited you?

I definitely wanted to work on a bigger, more organized staff. It is a big change from being top of the food chain to the bottom, but it's been an eye-opening experience. One thing that hasn't changed is creating content specifically for students and hyperlocal news is something near and dear to my heart. Definitely not where I see myself in the future, but it feels like it has an impact where you are and that's a wonderful feeling.

 

Why do you think scholastic journalism is important?

Scholastic journalism allows students, whether they will be journalists or not, to think critically about ideas, be open-hearted and open-minded, become better listeners, and develop their writing skills. Personally, it lets me serve a community that has given so much to me and it's only natural that I would give back to it in the form of news.

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I mean, it's no secret that journalists do not have a positive reputation right now, so I can see push back with school funding. Also, with broadcast, it's a pricey endeavor having to buy cameras, computers, editing software, and so much more. With newspapers, teaching news writing is such a different task than creative writing or academic writing, so it takes someone skilled to teach it (and Alabama already has a teacher shortage!).