School newspaper returns, just in a different format by Hector

School newspaper returns, just in a different format by Hector - December 2016 Scholarship Essay

Freedom of the press is a given in this nation called America. Our founding fathers fought for the rights of our citizens in order to obtain freedom of the press. Expressing one's thoughts through pen and paper is a great aspect to our nation because it allows one another to connect with each other and share new ideas. An accomplishment I am proud of is bringing back the freedom of the press back at my high school. In numerous countries, freedom of press is not an option or illegal. In America, people can print their thoughts without getting criticized.
I am a senior and the Co-Editor in Chief for my high school's award winning newspaper, the Wildcat Chronicle. I have always been part of the newspaper staff with the exception of my sophomore year since the paper did not run that year because of the school board. As a way to save money, the school board decided not to pay for the monthly publication of the Wildcat Chronicle which meant no paper. Additionally, the Wildcat Chronicle did not run because of a lack of student interest. Only a few students signed up for the journalism production class which makes up the staff. As a result, the school board did not want the class to run. When me and the staff heard about this, we were devastated. I thought how unjust it was to not have a paper at a high school.
Even though the school board took away the freedom of the press my sophomore year, that did not mean we gave up on bringing back the paper. One way we promoted our paper was by making posters and petitions addressing the issue where many students gladly signed and wanted the paper to publish again. As a way to raise student interest, the staff proposed an idea of having journalism as a senior option for English credit. There are two classes for journalism at my school: journalism I and journalism production. Journalism I is a semester course and focuses on teaching students learning how to write for a newspaper. Journalism Production applies the skills learned in journalism I where students write for the Wildcat Chronicle. The board agreed to let seniors take journalism I for English credit. As seniors signed up for their classes, many signed up for journalism while expressing interest in production and signing up for that as well. While students signed up for journalism, we decided to have the freedom of the press through a different format. That new format is an online paper. Instead of print, reporters can write online. The problem with this was the staff never published online and did not know how to manage an online publication. To combat this, we signed up with SNO, an online newspaper site for high schools. Throughout my sophomore year, me and other reporters met after school to learn how to manage an online site through tutorials. When enough students signed up for journalism in the spring, the board decided to bring back the paper since the school did not have to pay for an online publication.
Bringing back the freedom of the press through a new format is an accomplishment I am proud of. Freedom of the press is an idea for mass communication, it's to get everyone involved and have them know what's happening around the school where upon the people may form opinions and ideas. Not only bringing back the school paper improved how students can get their news back, but with an online paper there are endless opportunities for publishing. The paper now publishes videos where on print a video can not be made. With the hard work we put in from the transition between print and online publication, we saw it pay off because the Wildcat Chronicle can now publish daily compared to only once a month and with videos as well. The accomplishment made me realize how better ideas loom around for those who are patient and work hard in bringing something back again. Therefore, an accomplishment I am proud about as a student is bringing back the freedom of the press since it is vital in our world today.