A group of busy students excitedly chat in a computer lab filled with energy. They are bouncing ideas off of each other about yearbook pages and what newspaper stories they want to write. They quickly wrap up their discussions and roll over to their Mac computers to furiously start working on their designs and stories. This is a typical day within Student Media Advisor Ada Clark’s first period class.
“The yearbook and newspaper class is very unique because most of the time students are working on independent tasks. Editors set goals, and I serve mostly as a resource for students. Student voice is extremely important, and I enjoy teaching this class because I get to watch students grow through multiple years,” Clark said.
This class is almost solely where the MHS yearbook is created unless students are working outside of class. Creating the yearbook is a highly collaborative task where reporters are constantly practicing communication, not only with each other but almost the entire student body to build the book every year.
“There’s a lot that makes student media amazing. We all collaborate together, meet new people, and create amazing things. We’re a team and all work together to produce the best possible work. It’s truly a family by the end of the year,” senior Ty Stonehouse said.
On the other side of the room, newspaper students can be found working just as hard to create their online stories. The Pulse is an award winning online news-site where student reporters publish their work weekly to get information out to the student body. Staff are given creative freedom to choose what they want to write about to share with the school.
“This class really allows you to write about stuff you enjoy. You get to pick your own articles to write about things you like on your on time and investigate things you normally wouldn’t get to,” junior Isaac Craig said.
Although yearbook and newspaper are technically separate classes, since they they take place within one period they are extremely collaborative with each other. The two staffs often work together to brainstorm ideas and help each other out with almost anything. Yearbook reporters are given the opportunity to publish their work on the Pulse if they desire and often times Pulse reporters will write stories for the yearbook as well.
The student media staff are given many unique opportunities, one of which is the annual Wagon Trails Revue show. This show is hosted by the two staffs and raises money to be used for student media. Students in the classes write, edit, and perform skits between different groups performing. Wagon Trails Revue is a show unique to Mooresville and provides an opportunity for students that they may not typically have. It teaches the staff the importance of working together to pull of such a large event and creates a strong sense of community within the group.
Another opportunity that media students are given are annual field trips. Towards the beginning of the school year, students go on the “Ad Sale Field Trip” where they go out into the Mooresville community to sell yearbooks ads. They speak with local businesses and get experience in communicating with community members and establishing those relationships. The staffs also take a field trip every January to the IHSPA journalism conference where they hear from a Keynote speaker about journalism. Staff gets to participate in break-out sessions of different topics that interests them. This conference is a great opportunity for students to make connections in the world of journalism.
This conference is where the IHSPA announces the Hoosier Star Award Winners. The Hoosier Star is the highest award a high school journalism program can be awarded and both the Wagon Trails Yearbook and the MHS Pulse were recipients last year. This was the first time in over 20 years that Mooresville was given a Hoosier Star.
Any current freshmen who are interested in the class should know it fills the required communications graduation requirement. Anyone interested in learning more about the class is encouraged to reach out to current staff or Clark to get more information.
