GENTRY - Pioneer Press, Gentry High School's student newspaper, has gone digital and student journalists' articles and photos are now being published online at www.gentrypioneers.com/pioneer press. The digital version began publishing student articles in mid January.
The student newspaper had been published several times each school year in print form, but the cost of printing, as well as the logistics of getting the newspaper's pages to the press and the printed newspapers picked up again and to the school when finished was becoming an issue. Add to that the fact that stories and articles were old news by the time the paper was prepared and printed, often not coming out until months later, and it was time to go digital.
With the help of Craig Millsap, Gentry School District's network administrator, and Randy Moll, editor of the Westside Eagle Observer, webspace was made available and a WordPress template was customized for the Pioneer Press, and the digital version of Pioneer Press began to publish.
The template was chosen and set up to make the Pioneer Press readable on computer, laptop, tablet and cell phone. And social media share buttons added to the site allow students to share articles with other students, friends and family members.
And web publishing, even though it may sound complicated, came naturally to students. With just a little instruction, the digital publication was off and running.
"I was surprised at how quickly Makensi Sweeten and Jessica Sikes, student co-editors of the Pioneer Press, learned the process of writing and publishing articles," said Moll. "I spent about an hour, showing them the basics of publishing in WordPress and they just took off with it."
Alishia Ramsey, high school English teacher and advisor for the student newspaper, helped set up user profiles for all the paper's staff writers so they could write their articles directly into the template's database. Then, once the articles are edited and approved for publication, they are published and available online.
And, for those following the Pioneer Press, the number of articles published in the first few weeks of the digital version are probably more than those published in the first half of the school year in the print issues.
And how is the change working out?
"I think that changing over to digital will be a positive change," said Jessica Sikes. "We will be able to cover more news. So far, the transition has been very smooth -- much better than I expected. I believe it will benefit the school paper a lot."
"I think the online/digital newspaper is a great idea," said Makensi Sweeten. "It keeps the journalism crew more up to date on the news. We also get to cover more events. I think the change was for the best."
"The students have been working really hard to make this transition a smooth one," said Alishia Ramsey. "They are young and know technology like the back of their hands, so this has been an easy move for them. We are hoping that now more parents, community members and alumni will be able to access the paper and see what is going on at GHS. In the future we are hoping to include articles about things happening on the other Gentry campuses."
In addition to providing more news and information on school events to students, parents and the community, the online newspaper is also giving students more opportunity to learn and polish their reporting and writing skills.
"More student writing is a good thing," Ramsey said. "The kids are finding out what it is like to be a real reporter because I am making them go out and find the story. I also like it because we are able to update the articles in a more timely manner -- no more covering a story two months after it has actually occurred."
"I just love to see the students taking off with this and learning how to be journalists," Moll said. "With fewer and fewer people learning good writing skills, I see this as a real plus for all the students who are interested in writing. They can cover school events, write about them and have their work published for all to see. And perhaps this opportunity will move some Gentry students to pursue a career in writing or journalism. That would be great!"
General News on 02/03/2016