Blend | Spring 2007

INSIDE: Settling staff disputes • Late night work nights • Having fun • Tips & Tricks • Earning trust • more!

blend journalism starts right here Spring 2007 Issue 1 Volume 1 PREMIER ISSUE

Dealing with. . .

DEADBEATS Whitney High School’s

CINDERELLA STORY

INTERVIEWING Not everything’s obvious Pick up!

PHONE TIPS

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blend

Spring 2007 Issue 1 Volume 1

welcome to blend

Ball State University Journalism Workshops Muncie, IN 47306

Blend. What does it mean? No, it’s not an acronym for Bathing Little Elephants Near Denver. Nor is it a magazine devoted to cooking. It is, however, a magazine that brings together students and advisers to learn, explore and discuss the latest trends, tips and careers in the journalism field — no matter what type of media they’re practicing.

PUBLISHER Brian Hayes EDITOR Tom Gayda BLEND STAFF Logan Aimone Candace Perkins Bowen John Bowen Kathy Craghead Kim Green Ryan Gunterman H.L. Hall Jim McGonnell Amy Morgan Mark Newton Chad Rummel Ryan Sparrow Randy Swikle Wendy Wallace Brian Wilson CONTRIBUTORS Nick Feldman Jacky Hicks John McBride BUSINESS MANAGER Adam Maksl OFFICE STAFF Ashley Cashen Jincy Gibson Shelby Murphy Becky Rother Blend Magazine is published by the Journalism Workshops office at Ball State University. Call 765-285-8900 for advertising information or questions. As well, you can always e-mail the staff at blend.mag@gmail.com.

Brian Hayes is the Director of Secondary Education in the Department of Journalism at Ball State University. He is the former newspaper and magazine adviser at Lawrence North High School in Indianapolis. Hayes has worked professionally for several newspapers as a designer and graphic artist.

A few months ago, Tom Gayda and I began discussing the possibility of creating a new magazine for student journalists looking to improve their high school publications and who are interested in pursuing a career in journalism. We wanted to create an affordable, unbiased publication that would serve as a factual and reliable source for both students and advisers. Therefore, while Ball State has an obvious stake in producing the magazine, we wanted it to be bias-free, giving all universities, schools, and colleges an equal opportunity to be featured and advertise.

As the concept of the magazine became clear, the more excited we got. We recruited top-notch journalism advisers and professionals from all across the country to write and supply ideas for the magazine. We’ve asked high school students to contribute by giving narratives on how they covered a particular story. Each issue will feature a different journalistic career, show samples of good student journalism, highlight a collegiate program and provide software training and tips. And we’ll certainly do more as we grow and evolve over time.

Needless to say, this is an exciting time to be a student journalist pursuing a media career and we hope Blend will become your first resource in the field. If you would like to submit a story idea, seek more information or subscribe to Blend magazine, please contact us at blend.mag@gmail.com.

We look forward to serving you.

inside blend 3 • Write Now 4 • The Blender 6 • In the Business: Mike Wiggins 8 • Fun 10 • Tagged: Are you a Source?

16 • The Whitney Way 20 • Covering Hidden Secrets 22 • Tips & Tricks: Photoshop Cut-outs 24 • My Turn: Nick Feldman 25 • Work Night 26 • College Spotlight 27 • Page from Poynter 28 • The Gallery

ON THE COVER North Central High School senior newspaper editor Ted Boeglin appears on the cover of Blend. Next year, Ted plans to attend Indiana University.

Blend is printed by Friesen Yearbooks.

Ball State University

College of Communication, Information, and Media

!

summer

Journalism Workshops bsujournalismworkshops.com 5-Day workshop: July 22-26 On the Ball workshop: July 27-29

Adviser workshop 1: July 16-20 Adviser workshop 2: July 23-27

write now

by Kathy Craghead • Mexico High School Interviewing key to good reporting Kathy Craghead has advised for 32 years.

She is the 2003 National High School Yearbook Adviser of the Year and former Missouri High School Journalism Teacher of the Year.

Craghead is a former member of the national JEA Board of Directors. She has received the Medal of Merit, Pioneer and Dow Jones Distinguished Adviser Awards.

She has taught at numerous workshops and conferences throughout the country.

Recently, my 77-year-old mother was in the local hospital for five days. Naturally, I spent a lot of time in her room where a sign on the door to the restroom caught my eye. Prominently displayed was her “I and O” chart.

We don’t need to discuss what that “I and O” chart was all about (hint: there was a reason it was close to the restroom…) but it did remind me of a basic reporting requirement. Although it should go without saying, writers should never attempt an article for the newspaper or yearbook without sufficient I and O. Interviewing and observation are the building blocks of basic reporting.

Yet, many times beginning journalists will limit interviewing and totally pass over observing. So it sounds like a no-brainer: editors and advisers must demand reporters attend the events they are going to write about. There is evidence everywhere this does not happen.

Years ago, the local football team had a heartbreaking loss to end the season. A few days later, the yearbook reporter left her story on the editor’s desk.

The lead: Games can be won, lost or tied in the last seconds of the last quarter.

This was proven Nov. 10 against the Rock Bridge Bruins when they tied the game in the last five seconds.

This was a crushing blow to the team who had played tremendously and managed to keep ahead throughout most of the game.

Obviously, the lead had problems. In the story conference we talked about the lack of color, lack of specifics, grammar issues, use of opinion and repetition of words. We even briefly visited passive voice and ambiguous antecedents.

The first revision: The clock read five seconds. The screams and cheers of the crowd rang in the players’ ears. The clock started and thump, the football sailed through the air over the goalpost. The whistles blew and the game was tied.

Much better, we noted. But, because the editor and I had been at the game we knew there was a fundamental problem

with the lead: it didn’t happen that way. There was no noise at all from the Mexico stands, and certainly no “screams and cheers.”

The next conference with the writer was much more pointed. She was sorry, but, as she finally confessed, she had not been at the big game. No one would work for her at Pizza Hut that night, so she had been writing the story based on what she heard/thought happened.

We chose not to let the writer off the hook. Instead, the editor required her to watch the whole game tape, and interview every senior on the team, among others.

The next version we printed: With two seconds left in the game Nov. 10 no noise came from the Mexico stands. Fans stood in stunned silence as they saw a sure thing dissolve into a tie game with one kick from Rock Bridge’s Michael Towner.

In overtime, when the Bulldogs were unable to regain momentum, the team saw its hopes of advancing to the Quarterfinals for the first time ever disappear.

Editors must demand all reporters observe, then interview. One of the hardest lessons to learn about reporting is that very little of what you write down (or should be writing down) will actually be used in the story. But, not knowing what to leave out is a much easier problem to have than not knowing enough to put in.

Somewhere along the line, reporters who truly seek to improve their writing must buy into I and O wholeheartedly. There’s a reason those cool reporters notebooks fit into pockets so easily and that tape recorders now are so small.

Observation will give you an overview and background.

Interviewing will give you facts and, in the quotes of others, opinions.

Together, I and O will be the backbone of the story. Maybe it’s obvious. But, maybe there are people at your school who just need a chart on the door.

have a story idea? wanna write for blend?

we accept submissions from students and advisers!

e-mail us at: blend.mag@gmail.com spring 2007 blend magazine 3

the blender MIXED MEDIA

The following scrambled words spell out words journalists regularly use. Can you unscramble the following words using your journalistic know-how?

Caught on digital media

1.eaneidld ____________________

2. cosure ____________________

3. hoptapeghror ____________________

4. comunl ____________________

5.tewrinive ____________________

6.perrorte ____________________

7.citanop ____________________

8.dalhenie ____________________

9.scearreh ____________________

10.mocrupte ____________________

11. nidiget ____________________

____________________

13. deal

journalism etiquette

411 on phone calling & messaging

Ten years ago, the world of cellular phones was much different. Phones were large and clunky, and more people didn’t have them than did. Fast forward and cell phones are razor thin and everyone seems to have one.

With new technology comes new responsibilities. When using a phone for publications business, keep the following tips in mind: • I f you leave a message for a source to call you back on your cell phone, make sure your voicemail message is professional. You don’t want to turn off a potential source by leaving a message that contains music with four-letter words or you screaming that you will return their call. Not everyone will share in your sense of humor.

•W hen leaving a message, speak slowly and repeat the pertinent information twice. The first time you mention important information, the listener may not be ready to write down what you are saying. Give them the opportunity to grab a pen and not have to replay the message.

•W hen conducting an interview via the phone, make sure to note that in your article. “In a phone interview she said. . .”

• B e brief whether leaving a message, talking to a source or recording your voicemail message.

Nowadays, everyone’s in a hurry!

____________________

11. Albom 12. lead

Puzzler Answers

5. adviser 6. Hazelwood 7. folio 9. twelve

9. research 10. computer 11. editing 12. photo 13. lead 14. quote 15. byline

____________________

2. source 3. photographer 4. column 5. interview 6. reporter 7. caption 8. headline

15. libyen

Mixed Media 1. deadline

____________________

Down 1. noon 2. CNN 3. period

14. eoqut

Publications Puzzler Across 2. caption 4. pica 8. first 10. libel

word scramble!

12. hopot

Indiana High School Press Association student board president Spencer Hegewald greets Governor Mitch Daniels prior to the First Amendment Symposium on March 6. IHSPA president Ryan Gunterman is pictured in the background. photo by Clark Hadley

ask kim

Dealing with a deadbeat

Each issue, veteran adviser Kim Green answers questions you submit.

Need help with an issue or solution to a problem? Contact Kim at greenk@bcsc.k12.in.us with the subject “Ask Kim.”

Kim Green directs the student publications at Columbus (Ind.) North High School. A 2006 Dow Jones Newspaper Fund Distinguished Adviser of the Year, the publications Green’s students create are consistent award winners.

Dispute resolution

Q: Our editor in chief is hardly worthy of the job. He never stays after school or helps out when the paper needs to be edited.

What can we do before we ask our adviser to do something?

A: First, don’t let this problem keep your staff from turning out a quality publication. In other words, don’t get so bogged down with whether or not the editor is a “good editor” or “the best person for the job” that the publication suffers. I’ve never seen a poor editor turn good writers, designers and photographers into hacks. Remember: It’s all about your publication not about personalities. That said — have you talked with the editor? Although it may not seem like it, life happens outside the publications room, and your editor may be dealing with something “out there” which is affecting performance in here. You owe it to the editor to explore this possibility first as you should expect the same respect if you aren’t doing your job. If that doesn’t yield answers or results, consult your adviser for help in motivating the editor. Chances are good that your adviser already knows the situation and may even go so far as to remove the editor’s name from the staff box as I did once for the same reason. However, you may have to face a fact of life. Sometimes, the wrong person gets the job — even in real life “boss doesn’t equal best.” If that’s the case, step up and rally the troops for your real purpose, producing a top-notch student publication.

Publications Puzzler Across 2. explains the action of a photo 4. six of these make an inch 8. amendment that grants free press rights 10. written defamation 11. Mitch’s last name 12. the first paragraph of a news story

Down 1. 12 p.m.’s alias 2. network home for Larry King 3. sentence ender 5. another name for your journalism teacher 6. famous court case featuring a teenage pregnancy story 7. this includes the date and page number 9. number of points in a pica

Tom Gayda advises the student publications at North Central High School in Indianapolis. He is Region 6 director of the Journalism Education Association and former president of the Indiana High School Press Association.

Gayda received his BS and MA from Ball State University. He is a 2005 Dow Jones Newspaper Fund Distinguished Adviser of the Year.

Personalities are bound to clash. You might want a nice, happy staff all the time, but chances are that is not going to happen.

When disputes started to arise on my newspaper staff several years ago, we started TNL Court (named for The Northern Lights, the paper’s name).

When staff members want to have a grievance settled with a fellow staff member, or I am annoyed by someone, court is called and a ruling will be made.

The fact that I am also the judge doesn’t help When students I sue, but a jury of disputes fellow staffers started to is always in arise on my place to help the newspaper decide outcome. staff several Cases years ago, have arisen for all sorts we started of reasons. A TNL Court. staff member has missed a deadline, people have left class early or abused their press passes. These are but a few of the typical reasons we hold court.

While the outcome is not always as successful as I would like it to be, court does force the staff to address their problems and not let them get bottled up. And that is what’s most important.

Egos can occasionally get in the way of producing strong student publications, and that’s just no good. Remember that the publication you are working on is bigger than the sum of its parts.

Chances are, you are working on a publication that has been around a long time, and will be around a long time after you have graduated. While there might be occasional fights here and there, keep in mind the need to be professional at all times.

spring 2007 blend magazine 5

in the business

Meet Mike Wiggins, Grand Junction (Colo.) Daily Sentinel

Mark Newton, MJE, the journalism teacher at Grand Junction High School in Grand Junction, Colo., is the adviser of The Orange & Black. He has been a teacher for 21 years and an adviser for 20 in Colorado and Arizona. He is the current JEA Certification Commission chairperson and the former JEA Southwest Region 2 director and JEA Colorado state director.

The Orange & Black has been named the best newspaper in Colorado by the Colorado High School Press Association the last two years. The Orange & Black was inducted into the NSPA Hall of Fame in 2003. The student newsmagazine has also earned two NSPA Pacemakers (newsmagazine and online) and a CSPA Gold Crown. He is a speaker at local, state, and national conventions, and a summer workshops instructor. He is married (Pam) and has two children (Chris, Jamie).

Q: You were on the student newspaper in high school. Is that when you first got hooked on journalism?

MW: I think so. I’ve always enjoyed writing and I took a journalism class and then decided to go write for the high school paper. I also enjoyed reading newspapers, sports mostly.

Q: If you had to describe your experience on the high school newspaper now that you look back at it 13 years ago as a professional what stands out about that time?

MW: You know, college probably stands out more than high school. High school seemed a little bit of a hodgepodge — you came up with a story idea and you went out and wrote the story. I learned how to write a sports game story and feature profiles. You just kind of felt your way along and learned what you liked and didn’t like. I learned I really liked to write.

Q: When you were in high school is that when you made the decision to go to college and major in journalism?

MW: I think I knew coming out of high school I was going to college and major in journalism. In fact, I declared my major my freshman year.

The interesting thing is that there was a part of me that wanted to get into broadcast journalism. I went to Mesa State because they had both print and broadcast journalism. I had this idea that it would be great to be a radio broadcaster for a professional baseball or professional basketball. It was one of those childhood dreams; it would be really awesome to be a professional broadcaster.

Q: What was your experience like working on a college newspaper and how did you become the managing editor your senior year at Mesa?

MW: One of my professors my freshman year encouraged me to go apply for the paper the next year, so I did. I think it was something I was going to do anyway. I ended up being a copy editor my sophomore year and about halfway through the fall semester I got moved over to assistant news editor. I was strictly responsible for writing news stories. Then, my junior year, I was the news editor so I did both writing and layout.

My senior year, I applied and became the (managing) editor.

Q: What was the transition like from being a writer and designer to being the man in charge?

MW: I don’t think I was interested in management because it presented all kinds of aspects that I really had no clue about — managing a budget, overseeing advertising, dealing with conflict.

Q: Did you have any internships?

MW: After my junior year in the summer I worked for a government-access cable television station. I was more interested in getting the internship done than I was in broadcast journalism. For two months, I packed a lot in. I did a lot of camera stuff, stand-ups, voice-overs for packages, and then a lot of behind the scenes stuff — camera, audio, video, graphics. All the broadcasts were recorded so if you screwed up they’d rewind and start over. It was a great experience. I really enjoyed it.

Q: After you graduated, you got a job working for a small community newspaper. What was it like working there?

MW: The position was the education beat and on Sunday you’d lay out Monday’s paper. I enjoyed doing that. It was an opportunity to utilize a part of me that I hadn’t done a lot of before. I also added the county government beat for the last year or so.

Q: After working at a small daily for two years, you decided to take a job at a bigger paper in Grand Junction. Why the change?

MW: I had been in Glenwood for two years and thought it was time to move to something else. Grand Junction had an opening, the cops and courts beat. They had offered it to someone and she turned it down, so I got it.

Q: Do you enjoy working the cops and courts beat?

MW: I do like covering cops and courts. It can get a little old after awhile because it is very formulaic writing — someone got arrested, here are the charges, here’s the details, here’s the next court date, bam and you’re done.

It is a very interesting beat. I didn’t have a lot of experience; I was pretty naïve about the court system and how it worked.

So, getting to cover the beat in a larger town with more crime, more of a variety of crime, was a really good introduction into the legal system. It’s a very busy beat. You probably write more daily stories for the cops beat than you do for any other beat.

Q: So, yesterday you were writing about an inmate who escaped from the jail. What are you working on today?

MW: Today I’m working on a follow-up about the inmate escaping and his sister apparently helping him out. I’m also working on a story for the weekend about the impact the cold and snowy weather has on the traffic at local golf courses, and on road construction and public works projects.

Q: Does that story come from you or was that pitched?

MW: The story about the impact of the lingering snow and cold was something that I had really just come up with driving around town and noticing how much snow was on the ground. So that story was really an enterprise. You’re encouraged to do as much enterprise as you can. I have to react to stories and generate my own stories.

by Mark Newton • Grand Junction High School Q: You’re also the part-time city editor. Do you like that role?

MW: It’s interesting. It’s interesting to gain an editor’s perspective. It helps you appreciate the kind of work they do. It’s a very intense job.

You’re not only keeping track of what your reporters are doing, you’re making sure you have enough stuff for the daily paper, and you’re also keeping one eye on the weekend paper. You’re also looking at what other media are doing, making sure you’re not missing out on anything. It leaves no time for writing.

Q: Is journalism about writing for you? Do you like the reporting, too?

MW: I like the writing and the reporting. They definitely go hand in hand. It’s great to uncover information that no one else has, to do a little bit of digging or to ask those questions to get at the heart of an issue.

Q: You’re writing every day. How do you get better? What are the things you’re doing to really try to improve your writing?

MW: One thing I’ve discovered is that you really get better as a writer and reporter by reading other writing. You gain so much from that. You see how other people write, you get story ideas, you get ideas on how to report and what kinds of questions to ask, you get ideas on certain angles to take on stories.

There’s so much to learn from reading other people’s writing. I think you also get better by taking a step back from your narrow, focused little world of reporting and really focus on the story — what does Joe Q. Public really want to know? How does the story affect me?

Q: What is the most challenging aspect of your job?

MW: I guess one of the hardest things is staying fresh. You can get so caught up in this job and what you’re writing and the issues that you’re focused on, you can lose perspective. So, I try to not to think about work when I go home. I separate my life; it helps me stay focused.

Q: Do you like the idea that journalism is different, yet the same?

MW: It’s intriguing because you don’t know what you’re going to encounter when you walk into that door. The variety and not knowing what you’re going to cover is interesting.

Q: Best story you ever wrote?

MW: A story I wrote last September about Rebecca Carroll and about methamphetamine. I did a huge story about how meth just completely ruined her life. It really is a story about the devastating impact of meth, just how far-reaching it can be and how many lives it can touch and ruin.

I did a four- or five-hour interview with her, brought a photographer along, brought a video camera and did a multi-media package we ended up posting on the Internet. Just sitting there listening to her story about what had happened. I think the thing that stuck most with me was she said, “The thing that scares me most is even after everything I’ve been through, if someone offered me meth right now, I don’t know that I could turn it down.” You leave an interview like that you have to drive and park somewhere.

Q: You mentioned multi-media — it’s a huge thing right now. How’d that all come about?

MW: It’s a push we need to make. We basically got a crash course. One of our photographers, half her job now is all video. It’s a huge push.

There’s not any doubt that it won’t be a huge part of newspapers in the future. There’s not any question I need to adapt to it. All of us are being encouraged and evaluated on our contributions to the Web site.

Q: What would you say to high school students who want to be journalists?

MW: No matter what beat you cover or what you write about, remember that you’re writing about real people. Be fair and be

Photos by Amy Knackendoffel, senior, photo editor

Mike on Mike I grew up in Aurora, Colo., and spent my junior and senior years on the high school newspaper staff, writing news, feature and sports stories. Graduated from Rangeview High School in 1994.

I attended college at Mesa State College in Grand Junction, Colo., and spent three years on the Criterion staff. I was the editor my senior year. Wrote news and feature stories and some editorial columns. I also did some game broadcasts for KMSA, the campus radio station, my senior year.

I sought an internship after my junior year at Mesa Sate. I wanted to work at a newspaper, but started the application process too late.

I ended up interning at a TV station in Aurora for two months, doing both on-camera and off-camera work. It was a worthwhile experience, in that it showed me another facet of journalism, but I knew I wanted to go into print journalism. I graduated from Mesa State in 1998 with a Bachelor of Arts in mass communication.

My first job was at the Glenwood Post (Glenwood Springs, Colo.).

I worked there from Aug. 1998 to Dec. 2000, covering education and county government.

I’ve been at the Daily Sentinel since Jan. 2001, covering courts and cops and city government. For the last year, I’ve also handled parttime city editor duties, meaning I assign and edit stories.

Read Mike’s work: http://www.gjsentinel.com/news/content/news/ stories/2007/02/17/2_17_1aRebecca_Carroll_arrested.html balanced. Be hard on people and be persistent when the situation calls for it. But when the situation does call, take into consideration people’s emotions and feelings. The other thing is your credibility is all you have.

Once you lose that, it’s hard to get it back. It kind of ties into the fact that people should always be your focus. spring 2007 blend magazine 7

fun H.L. Hall is currently the executive director of the Tennessee High School Press Association at Vanderbilt University. His is also the past president of JEA and was local chair of the Nashville convention last fall. He advised the yearbook and newspaper at Kirkwood High School in Kirkwood, Mo. before retiring from teaching in 1999. Both publications were Gold Crown and Pacemaker winners. He is the author of two textbooks — High School Journalism and Junior High Journalism. He is the recipient of the Gold Key Award from CSPA, the national newspaper adviser of the year from Dow Jones, the national yearbook adviser of the year from JEA, the Pioneer Award from NSPA and the Carl Towley Award from JEA.

by H.L. Hall • JEA past president

Important to mix good times with stressful work Little things mean a lot!

“We have our annual Blue & Gold vs. Epic football game,” Whether a staff is trying to finish a newspaper or yearLeBlanc said. “We’ll also play football during the year. They’re book deadline, or trying to get the final script together for a great tension reducer.” a broadcast, sometimes you just have to take time out for a Fun can occur in places other than on the school campus. “fun” break to keep the adrenaline flowing. These fun breaks Joy McCaleb from Upperman High School in Tennesshould be arranged by the students — not the advisers. see said attending national conventions create those fun, Even if it’s something as simple as celebrating a birthday, exciting times for her students who attend a rural school and it helps staff members realize producing a final product is not almost never leave home. Last year, they went to the national all work and no JEA convention in San play.

Francisco.

“We cel“They learned a lot ebrate every at the sessions,” Mcbirthday,” CaroCaleb said, “but they lyn Woodward, learned so much more. publications They learned about adviser at airline requirements and Clarkrange finding transportation.

High School They learned about a in Tennessee, place where the words said. “We have a ‘melting pot’ took on an party chairman. entirely new meaning.

We also get They also bonded.” our principal Monthly theme dinto serve as ners also help students the master of bond, according to ceremonies Sarah Nichols from for our awards Whitney High School in program. We Rocklin, California. At use those big a 4-9 p.m. after school thick pepperdeadline, students take mint logs for a break for dinner at 6 Members of the Whitney (Calif.) High School yearbook staff get “married” at the beginning of our Oscars or p.m. These dinners focus the new year. See page 16 for more about the Whitney yearbook staff. our Emmys.” on a specific theme.

Kathy “A group of four Craghead at Mexico High School in Mexico, Missouri, said her students plan each dinner,” Nichols said. “The kids and/or their staff has what she calls the “Accidental Tradition,” but it has parents decided on the food and the decorations. There’s usugrown to such proportions that the students call it the annual ally cute table decorations and little favors. We play games and Holiday Coloring Contest.” take pictures of each dinner to see if the next month’s group “It started out as just something to do before holiday could outdo what had already been done.” break,” Kathy said, “but it has morphed into this big event.”

Dinners ranged from luaus to Mexican fiestas to Mardi Each class period, the students compete against each Gras banquets. other in coloring, Kathy said. Students may pick their colors Fun on publication staffs often centers around food. up to one week in advance and may practice on other pages There have been staffs who have built a 10-tiered cake out in their down time. However, they have to color the contest of Twinkies and staffs who have built ice cream sundaes big entry in class on the designated day. An impartial judge picks enough to feed 100 people. the top winner and three runners-up.

Whatever student editors decide to do to have fun, they “The rewards are prized,” Kathy said. “They’re Sonic gift should stretch their minds and not do the same things year cards, Slinkys and holiday candy, but the bragging rights last after year. My staffs at Kirkwood High School always had fun forever.” announcing staff positions for the coming year. I advised at Whereas Mexico students know in advance when the KHS for 26 years, and the staffs never used the same way to coloring contest will be, some staffs do things on the spur of introduce positions. the moment. Jeff Nardone said his newspaper staff at Grosse One year they wrote names and positions on 3,000 tennis Pointe South High School in Michigan, had a kick-ball game balls and wrote names and positions on 66 of those as yearon the front lawn of the school on the first deadline night. book and newspaper staffs always did this activity together.

“There are two reasons things like this are fun,” Nardone Staff members had to find their own ball in order to find their said. “Number one, we all need a little stress relief on a deadpositions. line night, and number two, moving around and burning off Another time, students went to a St. Louis Cardinals energy is always helpful. The game also helped some of the baseball game and the graduating seniors wrote names and kids learn the value of working together and getting along positions on 66 scorecards. Students had to find their own with each other. They all had to participate, they all had to try, scorecard in order to find their position. and they all had fun.”

Whatever activity you decide on, stretch your minds. Even Pete LeBlanc’s students at Center High School in Antelope, if it’s an activity that only takes five minutes, it will help get California also play games. the adrenaline flowing again. Little things do mean a lot!

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Jostens is the first yearbook company to offer the Adobe InDesign® CS toolbar.

Our representatives provide unmatched yearbook knowledge and experience.

Revolution

The yearbook revolution has begun™.

Get into it at www.jostens.com/yearbooks.

Emerging social networks have provided student journalists with new options. . .

TAGGED are you a source?

by Ryan Gunterman

Ernie Pyle had his soldiers. The New York Times used the Pentagon Papers. Woodward and Bernstein relied on “Deep Throat.”

So what are the sources for today’s aspiring journalists?

The Internet; more specifically MySpace and Facebook.

With more than 150 million registered users, and 320,000 more every day on MySpace, and another 14 million-plus on Facebook, these online communities are becoming more of an everyday part of life for today’s teens. Users can discover a wealth of information about other individuals with a registered page — from birthdays, to hobbies, to “top eight” Now it’s becoming a regular fixture in the scholastic newsroom. best friends.

e online pular of th million o p st o m n 61 is the MySpace rks, with more tha o tw e n l ia soc users.

12 blend magazine spring 2007

Advisers are noticing how these social online avenues are becoming a part of the newsgathering process as a whole.

“Students seem to check this more regularly than e-mail,” said Rod Satterthwaite, adviser at Dexter HS in Dexter, Mich. “I do know students have contacted people on their MySpace/Facebook to set up an interview.”

Satterthwaite estimates that 90 percent or more of his students maintain their own personal MySpace/Facebook sites. However, while his publications students use the sites for setting up interviews, he said the information that comes from a source’s personal page goes through the same fact-checking process as any other piece of information used in a story.

“The Internet is fine for gathering background information,” he said. “Students need to verify all information they obtain on the Internet with at least one other source; preferably a human source.”

That information provided is even serving as a catalyst to the journalistic process. Sarah Nichols, adviser at Whitney HS in Rocklin, Calif., said her students enjoy using MySpace and Facebook to generate story ideas.

“Our student journalists use it to see what’s out there and get ideas or make generalizations about a trend,” Nichols said.

Both sites provide search engines where people can find individuals and groups that share interests. Users can also contact each other via one-on-one messaging or by posting notes on each others’ pages that anyone who visits the site can see.

Some staffs are taking advantage of this. These sites have been used to promote and receive feedback on content.

“We use MySpace to send our notices to the masses about yearbook sales, photo opportunities and getting ideas from our readers about what they want to see in the (yearbook),” said Kelly Short, adviser at Jeffersonville HS in Jeffersonville, Ind. However, Nichols said that’s as far as her staff goes with these pages. While they are good for making contact and generating story ideas, she said the journalistic work begins once her staff members log off.

“The true reporting begins with person-to-person research, interviews and so forth. We don’t consider (MySpace/Facebook) past the initial stage in newsgathering.”

Adviser Terry Nelson at Muncie Central HS in Muncie, Ind. doesn’t even allow usage of the two sites to get to that stage. She said the sites are made for personal use only — and should stay that way.

“It’s meant for networking, but socially, not intellectually,” Nelson said. “I think it would be a violation of social intention for information to be published to an audience seeking entertainment.”

Nelson’s worried about the effect these personal web portals may have on the journalistic development of her students. She said the use of these sites can hamper a journalist’s skill of observation and encourage “butt reporting” where a student writes a story without ever moving away from a computer screen.

“There still is nothing better than using legs to seek out face to face; in-depth reporting, where a reporter can observe facial expressions, mannerism, stance, and make a connection to the person he is writing about,” Nelson said.

journalism online Some high school publications have taken advantage of the popularity — and cost (free!) — of online social networks such as MySpace and Facebook.

Homestead (Fort Wayne, Ind.) High School has a Facebook site that allows visitors to suggest story ideas, participate in opinion polls and view photos taken by the Spartana staff.

Student journalists have used these sites to also build support for First Amendment and censorship causes. Facebook also features a First Amendment group for those who are passionate about their constitutional rights.

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It’s not just against Nelson’s policy to use the sites for journalistic work, but it’s also against her school’s policy to view the sites at school.

Muncie Central isn’t the only one.

Many high schools block the personal sites from loading on school computers; citing “personal use” of the Internet as against corporation policy.

But that hasn’t stopped students from getting to them.

Students will use what’s called a “tunnel” site, meaning they will navigate to an unblocked site and find a link to the blocked page in question. That link is reconfigured enough from the original web address where the school’s Internet filtering software won’t prevent the page from loading.

But the reasoning for blocking these sites isn’t just to keep kids on task while in the classroom. Instances of “cyber bullying” through these sites have been reported, and some school districts have taken notice — even to the point of threatening First Amendment rights.

Clark-Pleasant school district in Whiteland, Ind., passed a policy making statements made on MySpace and Facebook pages subject to punishment through school rules; regardless of whether or not it was done with corporation computers.

Nearby Carmel-Clay schools in Carmel, Ind., has also punished students for what has been posted on their personal sites. While the corporation doesn’t have a written policy such as Clark-Pleasant’s, Technology Director Steve Dillion said the students in the district are simply being held responsible for their actions.

“We respect free speech,” Dillion said. “This just falls under legal harassment laws.”

Dillon said the district doesn’t go looking for items online in order to punish students. Law enforcement officials first receive a subpoena for the Web site information, and then school officials decide whether or not to take action.

“There have been instances not pursued,” Dillon said.

But Satterthwaite has seen instances where it has. He said he is “surprised” how willing some students are to display information that can, and have, lead to dire consequences for those posting it.

“Student athletes had pictures of themselves on their accounts smoking and holding red cups.

They had to serve sports punishment/suspension because of this,” he said. “I’m not sure students today have any privacy concerns since everything, to them, seems to be public.”

But despite the controversy the social networks have created in some instances, there are those that see them as just another means of communication and something student journalists can use to their advantage. Some believe it’s only a matter of time before MySpace and Facebook are used for more than just social interaction.

“There is, however, great potential (with these sites),” said Mark Newton, adviser at Grand Junction HS in Grand Junction, Colo. “Think about reviews or identifying new trends, bands, etc. I think we need to train student-journalists to see (MySpace/Facebook) as sources.”

Ryan Gunterman is the newspaper and yearbook adviser at Bloomington High School North in Bloomington, Ind., and is the president of the Indiana High School Press Association. Ryan, a 2002 graduate of Indiana University, has been working in scholastic journalism since high school and was sports editor and editor in chief for the Indiana Daily Student, IU’s student newspaper. He has also taught at several summer journalism workshops and presented at numerous national and state conventions.

y e n t i h W Way the

s y o j n e l schoo success early Green

by Kim

Previous spread: Whitney High School yearbook staff members enjoy a staff activity meant to promote staff relations.

Above: Adviser Sarah Nichols poses with members of the Details staff after their Best of Show trophy presentation.

Opposite page: Spreads from the award-winning Details yearbook.

An expression regarding excellence, “It’s all in the details,” holds true for the brand new yearbook produced

by Whitney High School in Rocklin, Calif. In fact, Details is the name of the book, and Wow! It does live up to that label!

So far this year — its inaugural volume — the accolades have poured in: Best of Show in Nashville in November, a Columbia Scholastic Press Association Gold Crown recipient in March and a Pacemaker finalist.

So far this year – Advised by Sarah Nichols, Detail’s inaugural a 2007 Journalism Education Association Distinguished volume - the Adviser, the yearbook features accolades have the theme “People First.” The poured in: Best of staff chose a chronological organization that picks up on Show in Nashville both weeks and significant single days of “firsts.” in November, According to Nichols, a Columbia theme development is “very Scholastic Press layered, so many different Association Gold ways with the focus always on the people involved: the first Crown recipient touchdown, the first person to buy a parking pass.” in March and In fact, one of the coolest a Pacemaker packages carrying out the finalist. theme covers students individually sharing something they always do and something nobody knows about them.

These included a fun photo of each student. Three-to-eight of them are grouped together on each spread, inviting readers to every spread in the book.

Now, keep in mind, this staff was not an experienced group of upperclassmen. This was a group of 31 freshmen and sophomores, representing the 625 underclassmen to

18 blend magazine spring 2007

step through Whitney’s doors that first day in August.

“It was a huge challenge,” Nichols admitted. “They couldn’t drive, so we had to plan photo assignments carefully. Last minute things couldn’t happen.”

That didn’t stop the problems, though.

With part of the campus still under construction, power failures, yellow construction tape, workers everywhere and no computers made the start difficult. In fact, Nichols said once they got computers, the school’s network was not set up right so the first spreads wouldn’t save.

“The first eight weeks were chaos,” she said.

It wasn’t all gloom, though. The staff managed to teambuild and bond. They sold ads outside school.

They even incorporated a font called “Whitney” into the book. The young staff stepped up, and according to the letter accompanying their book at distribution, they “learned a ton in the process (we literally re-did about half of the book on proofs because the staff learned so much in such a short time).”

And it shows. When it comes to excellence, pay attention to Details.

HIDDEN STORIES Digging behind the scenes.

by John McBride

E

very school has its places that pique the curiosity of students, and Fort Dodge Senior High is no different.

We just decided to find those places, and present them to the kids in the school newspaper.

The discussion of the “hidden places” began, oddly enough, during a organizational meeting for a previous issue. We always try to do a center spread that goes beyond just a bunch of stories and present something visual to catch our readers’ eyes. We began talking about what we could for the upcoming issue when we strayed from the topic and started discussing where everyone goes for tornado drills.

I then told my students that once my daughter, when she was in elementary school, had to go to the basement of her school during an actual tornado warning one spring.

Of course that led to the discussion of whether or not schools even had basements.

Our school does, and very few students

know that. Well, the discussion began to turn to where this basement was located, and invariably, what other places are there in the school which are “hidden away” from most people. Of course, they couldn’t believe there were places throughout the school that students didn’t know about. But, they were wrong.

“I’ve always been really curious about all these places tucked away. I figured the rest of the school would like to know about them,” said Assistant Editor Abbey Hanish, who was one of the driving forces behind the story.

We began to make a list of the obvious.

Of course the basement would be included, but it was funny how different students could add a new place to the list that most students didn’t even know about.

That list included a crawl space under the hallway in the Industrial Tech wing. It included the huge storage area above our gymnasium, which included a treasure trove of trophies, among other things.

“The attics and basements are full of old

school paraphernalia,” said Editor in Chief Evan Swanson. “There’s a whole pile of trophies that date anywhere between the ‘30s and ‘80s.”

The list also included an area underneath the swimming pool. That was most surprising to me. I was a student at this high school back in the mid 1980s and I’ve taught here for the past eight years, and even I didn’t know that place existed.

So with a camera in hand, and a small group of pioneers in tow, we headed out to find the hidden places of the school.

I knew where most of the places were located. We started, oddly enough, with the old, now defunct, darkrooms that are located in my classroom. My staff knows they are there, but all of them conceded that very few students know that we used to have two functioning darkrooms (which of course are now storage because of the age of digital photography).

Next, we went to the janitors’ closet on the second floor. At first glance it didn’t seem too exciting until I pointed out the

John McBride is the publications adviser at Fort Dodge High School in Iowa.

The yearbook, the Dodger and the newspaper, the Little Dodger are both more than 90 years old.

McBride worked at three different newspapers in Iowa: the Ida County Courier, the Sioux City Journal and the Fort Dodge Messenger. He was a sports writer at all of them and was the assistant sports editor at the Messenger from 1993 to 1995. McBride received a BA in English from Iowa State and then earned his journalism endorsement from the state.

ladder leading to the crawl space above all the second-floor rooms and ultimately out to the roof. Of course, everyone wanted to go up to the roof, but I said no.

That’s really how the rest of the day went.

We went to the basement that started the whole thing and found out that we actually have two basements in our school and they are connected by a series of tunnels where the hot-water pipes run throughout the building, delivering hot water to the radiators.

We discovered the boiler room, and the brand new boilers that were installed last year, and discovered where all those hotwater pipes start and end.

We went under the pool to the filter room and were able to watch the swimmers during practice from the huge window that allows you to see underneath the pool.

We also found out that there is an amazing amount of storage above the gymnasium and discovered that there are several different doors that lead to the roof of the school. I also took the kids into the

press box hanging over our basketball floor.

I had been there plenty of times, but most of the kids had never seen it from the inside.

We also ventured into several places that even my journalism students did not know existed: the wrestling room and the magazine room behind the library were two of the main ones.

What was funny, though, was the few places we thought were going to be pretty cool turned out to be nothing. That included a storage shed outside the school that looked pretty ominous, but only held lawn mowers. The incinerator room also was a big disappointment, given its impressive name.

Once we were finished with our adventures, we had to decide how to present the pictures, and the stories behind them. We decided to run good-sized pictures with basically over-sized captions to explain what each hidden place was, its approximate location and anything that made it cool. We ended up using eight different locations on the spread and our

cover included a shot looking down into the crawl space under the Industrial Tech hallway with a swirling headline that read “What Lies Beneath…”

We were satisfied with the spread, but of course we wish we could have done better.

The one thing that was missing from a lot of the shots was people, but I didn’t feel comfortable allowing kids into some of these spaces.

We also decided that we would run a disclaimer that reminded students that most of these places were off-limits to them.

Surprisingly enough, I didn’t hear one thing from any administrator about encouraging kids to try to find these places. The spread was accepted for what we intended, entertainment purposes only.

“It was one of our better spreads because students are constantly talking about the basement,” said Assistant Editor Maria Carlson. “They had no idea about the boiler room or the tunnels. It was something fun and interesting for both our staff and our readers.” spring 2007 blend magazine 21

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Now, place the new AND CHANGE YOUR &/2-!4 TO A 0(/4/3(/0 file into InDesign. Go to your text wrap palette and click on the third %03 lLE %03 lLE %03 lLE %03 lLE option. This text wrap will allow you to select a Photoshop Path for your desired text wrap.

.OW PLACE THE NEW lLE INTO )N$ESIGN 'O TO .OW PLACE THE NEW lLE INTO )N$ESIGN 'O TO .OW PLACE THE NEW lLE INTO )N$ESIGN 'O TO .OW PLACE THE NEW lLE INTO )N$ESIGN 'O TO YOUR TEXT WRAP PALETTE AND CLICK ON THE THIRD YOUR TEXT WRAP PALETTE AND CLICK ON THE THIRD YOUR TEXT WRAP PALETTE AND CLICK ON THE THIRD YOUR TEXT WRAP PALETTE AND CLICK ON THE THIRD OPTION 4HIS TEXT WRAP WILL ALLOW YOU TO SELECT A OPTION 4HIS TEXT WRAP WILL ALLOW YOU TO SELECT A OPTION 4HIS TEXT WRAP WILL ALLOW YOU TO SELECT A OPTION 4HIS TEXT WRAP WILL ALLOW YOU TO SELECT A 0HOTOSHOP 0ATH FOR YOUR DESIRED TEXT WRAP 0HOTOSHOP 0ATH FOR YOUR DESIRED TEXT WRAP 0HOTOSHOP 0ATH FOR YOUR DESIRED TEXT WRAP 0HOTOSHOP 0ATH FOR YOUR DESIRED TEXT WRAP

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.OW PLACE THE NEW lLE INTO )N$ESIGN 'O TO YOUR TEXT WRAP PALETTE AND CLICK ON THE THIRD OPTION 4HIS TEXT WRAP WILL ALLOW YOU TO SELECT A 0HOTOSHOP 0ATH FOR YOUR DESIRED TEXT WRAP spring 2007 blend magazine 23

my turn

by Nick Feldman • Apple Leaf editor in chief • Wenatchee High School Eliminate your fiction, earn back their trust Nick Feldman has been involved in journalism every semester of high school, serving as a member of The Apple Leaf newspaper staff for more than three years. He has been editor in chief of the Pacemaker-winning newspaper for two years.

He has won several individual state, regional and national awards and was named the 2007 Washington Journalist of the Year. Feldman plans to attend the University of Washington in Seattle to study in the communications field.

News has been the same from day one.

From the most isolated tribes in Africa to the most distant islands in the Pacific, people shared a general definition of what news is. They even looked for the same qualities in the ones they chose to deliver their news: someone who could quickly get, accurately gather and engagingly retell the information that mattered.

But now there’s a problem. The public doesn’t trust news media anymore.

It’s sad, but it’s true. According to the Project for Excellence in Journalism, only 21 percent of Americans thought the press cared about people, and only 58 percent respected the press watchdog role.

What’s worse is that in many ways they have every reason to. Reporters like Stephen Glass, Jayson Blair and Jack Kelley have fabricated their way into the hearts and minds of millions of readers.

But, in a little different way, most of the stories in a newspaper are fact-plus-fiction constructions.

So much of the time readers are afraid that they’re not getting the whole story — I know I’m guilty of it. But, ironically, readers get more than the whole story. What you write for the paper, whether you realize it or not, combines all the facts you worked so hard to get with a whole lot of information that has nothing to do with anything.

Since we picked up a pen and pad, every journalist is ingrained with the ideal of perfect fairness. So, in the interest of fairness, every one statement for has to be balanced by

another statement against.

The motivation for including “both sides” is to create objectivity, but oftentimes it makes finding true objectivity too difficult. When we try to give readers the whole story, we’re really just giving the facts plus some equalizing fiction.

So, sadly, what was once your reader might now be Ann Coulter’s reader or Bill O’Reilly’s viewer; they get so skeptical of the “objective” news that they turn to the opinion page, thinking that somehow writers who openly admit their biases can be trusted.

But most of these are more entertainers than journalists, and the public follows whichever entertainer they agree with.

In the introduction of his book “The Elements of Journalism,” Tom Rosenstiel writes, “That independence requires journalists to be neutral [is a myth]. The concept of objectivity has been so mangled it now is usually used to describe the very problem it was conceived to correct.”

Sometimes a story is pointed, and it’s wrong to tell it any other way. You think you’re attempting to make your story objective, but all you’re really doing is confusing everyone.

Don’t abandon the ideals of fairness and objectivity — just don’t work so hard to make your stories objective that readers can’t tell what the truth is.

Maybe we can bump up that 21 percent. Maybe we can lessen the impact of the Jayson Blairs of the world. This job needs to be done, and we know that. The public needs to know that, too.

need more blend in your life?

Contact us today!

Mail to: Journalism Workshops • Ball State University • Muncie, IN • 47306.

Call: 765•285•8900 • E-mail: blend.mag@gmail.com 24 blend magazine spring 2007

work night Six pink links: friend or foe?

Chad Rummel, CJE, advises the Paragon Yearbook, DVD Yearbook, Outlook newspaper and online newspaper at Oakton High School in Vienna, Va. A native of the Sunflower state, Chad came to Virginia by way of a one-year stint as contest coordinator for NSPA in Minneapolis.

A white paper chain draped around the walls of Room 228 looks simple. It started as hundreds of slips of paper, one representing each day of the year. Then six were highlighted pink, one for each yearbook deadline, and the pressure began to build. As a link was removed each day, the scattered pink links got closer and closer.

Seeing these signs of a lurking worknight, the pink links cause a sense of panic for some.

“I know that each pink link means a long night of stress and pressure,” explains Student Life Editor Emily Simpkins. “So when I see a highlighted link getting closer and closer, I freak out!”

As the pink link gets closer, the classroom turns into a hub of organized chaos. The chaos causes some to go into competitive yearbooking mode.

During deadline five, the most feared of all deadlines for its size, Nicole Bui, an evercalm co-editor, was not slowed down by the deadline stress. When a story needed covered, she reacted in rapid-fire under the pressure.

“It was deadline night and our staff was staring out of the windows in the Pub Lab,” Bui says calmly. “Blinking lights immediately caught my eye, so I rounded up some photographers and we ran outside to capture the action.”

An accident involving two students and several emergency vehicles miraculously found their way onto a yearbook spread that night.

Helping the students stay calm under the stress of deadlines is one thing that is the quickest way to any yearbookers heart: food. Parents brought food that ranged from homemade lasagna to Chipotle to sandwich wraps.

“Every time a parent walked in with food, all of the editors and staffers got really excited,” said Production Editor Stephanie Nguyen. “One time one of the parents brought in Chipotle and it was amazing. Food tasted 10 times better after a long day of yearbook.”

Also topping off the list of must-haves for worknight are fudge brownies, courtesy of Academics Editor Nora Allen’s mom. The brownies, always accompanied by forks and napkins, disappear quickly.

“Just one bite is enough to put anyone in chocolate euphoria,” Bui said.

No matter how much work needs to be done, there’s always someone willing to take pictures to document a worknight. Two years ago, the staff of The Paragon started a “Wall of Fun,” a photographic documentation of what

by Chad Rummel • Oakton High School

happened throughout the year.

“Every action that is taken in our publications room on deadline night is documented through the lens of our cameras; the day after deadline we usually print out all of the pictures and post them up on our infamous wall,” said Creative Director Evelyn Weisskohl. “When it gets late and there is no end in sight, all it takes to lighten the mood is to take some hilarious photographs and plaster them up on our wall.”

As the late hours roll around, a staff of full-tummied, blinded-by-flash, tuckered out yearbook nerds departs Room 228 by 10 p.m., always pausing to pull one more pink link off the chain.

How to have fun on a worknight:

“On worknights we like to take short breaks after working for a long period of time. One time, a sports section editor decided to play a joke on her co-editor by hiding in a huge cardboard box and jumping out of it when she walked in the room. It was a good way to share a laugh before we had to tackle a few more hours of editing spreads.” senior Evelyn Weisskohl

Underclassmen editor Nobid Chowdhury, the sole male staff member, recovers from a paper cut caused by the hustle of moving papers on worknight by having adviser Chad Rummel bandage his wound. “Rummel got bored playing adviser and loved the chance to play doctor whenever he could. He got out these gloves and huge bandages to lighten the mood. It didn’t compensate for the horrible dance music he played.”

college spotlight

by Amy Morgan • Shawnee Mission West High School University of Kansas • Lawrence, Kansas Name William Allen White School of Journalism and Mass Communications

Amy Morgan has been teaching journalism and advising publications at Shawnee Mission West for nine years. Morgan is the Journalism Educators of Metropolitan Kansas City Vice President and is also active in JEA and NSPA activities. She has been a member of the Kansas Journalism Institute faculty for 10 years, and has also taught other workshops around the country. Morgan is currently the Jackie Engel Endowment Committee Chair for the Kansas Scholastic Press Association.

Campus KU’s main campus occupies 1,000 acres on and around Mount Oread in Lawrence, a community of 88,500 among the forested hills of eastern Kansas.

Size of university 20,908 undergraduates and 6,026 graduate students at the Lawrence and Edwards campuses.

Size of journalism school •731 undergraduate students •67 graduate students

such as broadcast news, newspaper reporting, advertising and business communications. These multimedia degrees help students to gain exposure to several different areas of journalism, therefore making them more marketable in today’s ever-changing business environment.”

“Another unique aspect to the School of Journalism is the opportunity for freshman to participate in campus media. Our pre-journalism students are eligible to work on the University Daily Kansan, KUJH-TV and KJHK-Radio. Many other journalism schools require that students are officially admitted to the program, which normally occurs in the sophomore or junior year, before they are able to participate,” Gilham said.

“The William Allen White School of Journalism and Mass Communications prepares students for the working world by teaching skills, passion and integrity. Our faculty and staff are committed to students and their success on campus and beyond. We are proud of our students, faculty, alumni and national reputation of excellence,” Gilham said.

History Journalism classes Contact information have been taught at KU The University of Kansas since 1903. The J-School William Allen White has been accredited conSchool of Journalism and Mass Communications tinuously since 1948 by Stauffer-Flint Hall the Accrediting Council 1435 Jayhawk Blvd. on Education in JournalLawrence, KS 66045-7575 ism and Mass Communiwww.journalism.ku.edu cations. The school was named to honor William General Information Allen White, the worldDean’s Office in Stauffer-Flint ©The University of Kansas/Office of University famous editor of the jschool@ku.edu • (785) 864-4755 Relations; used with permission Emporia Gazette. The JSchool hosts the Kansas Journalism Student Recruitment and RetenScholastic Press Association, the Kansas Journalism Institute tion and the Accrediting Council on Education in Journalism and Sara Gillham, coordinator: sgillham@ku.edu • (785) 864-4768 Mass Communication.

Degrees offered • Bachelor of Science in Journalism: news/information or strategic communication • Master of Science in Journalism Campus Media •The University Daily Kansan and kansan.com — the daily newspaper and its Web site — offer the opportunity for multimedia reporting.

•KJHK Radio — journalism students contribute to the daily newscasts on the alternative radio station, which is run by the Union Programs Department.

•Jayplay — a weekly lifestyle magazine distributed with the Kansan.

•KUJH-TV & tv.ku.edu — local cable channel and Internet site.

What sets the KU apart from others around the country?

“The KU School of Journalism is consistently recognized as one of the best journalism schools in the country for many reasons,” Sara Gilham, recruitment and retention coordinator, said. “We were one of the first to respond to changes in the workforce and technology by adopting two multi-media majors in 2000. These two majors, News and Information and Strategic Communications, replaced narrow degree programs

a page from poynter

by Jacky Hicks • The Poynter Institute Writing, editing tips right at your fingertips Jacky Hicks is a junior majoring in journalism and political science at the University of South Florida St. Petersburg.

She participated in Poynter’s High School Journalism Program (www.poynter. org/highschool) when she was a student in high school, working on her school newspaper. Now she’s interning at Poynter. Reach her at jhicks@ poynter.org.

Wendy Wallace, director of the high school program at Poynter, contributed to this report. E-mail her at Wwallace@poynter. org.

As an intern working on the high school program at the Poynter Institute, I’ve been exposed to journalism training of the highest degree. Part of my job has been to find web content that is applicable to high school students. This column gives me a chance to share what I’ve found.

How to get an edge in a changing industry Tight budgets have prompted many newspapers to cut back on their internship programs, leaving college students scrambling for experience to beef up skimpy resumes. Some experts suggest that students develop copy-editing skills, including spelling, grammar and AP style, to set themselves apart.

“That’s always going to be in demand,” Richard Holden, executive director for the Dow Jones Newspaper Fund, said in a recent Poynter Online story. “Reporting interns are relatively easy to find.

Copy editing interns are not.”

Online editing is more important than ever, Holden told Poynter Online’s Leann Frola. “Obviously the Web has taken a much greater role in daily operations,” he said.

Frola also talked to journalism schools, to see how they’re adapting. She wrote: “Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism is discussing how to get students ready for cross-platform journalism without neglecting reporting fundamentals, said Ernest Sotomayor, director of career services.

After seeing “hundreds and hundreds” of job cuts at newspapers for the past two years, Sotomayor said, he’s encouraging students to get creative. Consider webzines, niche publications, community weeklies,” he tells students.

“Employment at newspapers is not going [anywhere],” Sotomayor said. “And there is nothing to indicate to me that it’s going to ever reverse.”

Students are busy refocusing as well, the story continued.

Frola interviewed Laura Zaichkin, 21, a senior at Pacific Lutheran University in Tacoma, Wash., who said she’s marketing herself as a “communicator” this year instead of a print journalist as she’s done in the past. Zaichkin spent the last year as a new media intern at the Seattle Post-Intelligencer.

“Having that experience that veteran reporters don’t have is a major asset,” Zaichkin told Poynter Online.

So consider copy editing and working on web-based media to get experience that will set yourself apart when you’re competing for internships in college. Does your school have an online publication? If not, check out http:// my.highschooljournalism.org, a site that will help your school start one.

Bring a pro to your brainstorming sessions Poynter faculty member (and former television news director) Al Tompkins writes a daily column on Poynter Online highlighting three or four potential story ideas with links to information about the topic and tips on how to navigate the issue. Often, with additional reporting, these could be localized to a high school paper or broadcast show.

In his Jan. 19 column, Tompkins wrote about later start times for high schools, quoting research on sleep-deprived teenagers and a National Public Radio report chronicling efforts by school districts to push back start times.

Tompkins weaves the research into his columns and

provides links so you can read the full report. In this story, he quoted extensively from NPR, which said: “Most high schools begin their day around 7:30 a.m., which leaves many teenagers nodding off in the morning. In fact, at least 20 percent of high school students fall asleep in class on a typical day. The problem: Teenagers need a lot of sleep — about nine hours each night, experts say. And most of them aren’t getting enough.

One Minneapolis school district reported less depression, greater alertness, and fewer drop-outs after moving its start time from 7:20 to 8:40 a.m., Tompkins quoted NPR as saying.”

Does your school have an early start time? Find out what teachers and students think about the school’s schedule and get details about how the start time affects their lives. Get beyond the “I like it” or “I hate it” quotes and into the “I drink three venti mochas before 7 a.m. just to get my eyes open” reality. Could you spend the morning with a few students or teachers and describe their routine? Build your story around those details and the research, not just a string of quotes. Follow the links in Tompkins’ article and incorporate the facts in boxes and other story forms to break things up.

If you like Tompkins’ approach to story ideas, subscribe to Al’s Morning Meeting and have it e-mailed to you. Find Al’s Morning Meeting at ww.poynter.org/morningmeeting.

Editors must be leaders, not just friends Editors face unique challenges in the high school newsroom. Trying to manage a best friend, an apathetic staff writer or a social enemy might seem impossible. How do you get your peers to listen?

“Leading Lines,” a column written by Poynter’s leadership faculty, is a good place to go for help.

In “Are You a Manager, a Leader, or Both?” Poynter’s Jill Geisler writes: “Managers have the authority to make things happen.

They can do it by force (reward and punishment), by simply “pulling rank.” That’s authority. But managers who lead, and leaders who aren’t managers, reach goals through influence.

“Influence comes from trust — from a person’s expertise, integrity, and empathy as perceived by others. Maximum influence accrues to those who are strong in all three areas.

“As I see it, people are required to follow managers. They choose to follow leaders.” (http://poynter.org/column. asp?id=34&aid=62579) Be the leader who motivates rather than commands your staff to do things. Focus on developing yourself, your knowledge and character, as well as your staff. Believe it or not, this will make for better journalism.

It’s free, it’s online, what could be better?

News University or NewsU (www.NewsU.org) is another excellent training opportunity from Poynter. It offers selfpaced courses, free, that take an hour or two to complete.

Familiarize yourself with AP style in “Cleaning Your Copy,” enrich your reporting skills with “The ‘Be a Reporter’ Game” and “The Interview,” and discover writing and revision techniques with “The Lead Lab,” “The Writer’s Workbench” and “Get me Rewrite” among others.

All this to say, start using what’s available to you from Poynter Online. Learn from the professionals.

the gallery compiled by Brian Hayes • Ball State University A look at publications from across the country CAUTION! Page will be trimmed one pica in from this outside bleed line.

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Healthy Alternatives Not all fast food is unhealthy though.

Remember Jared? By following a few easy tips, eating out can actually be a pleasant and healthy experience.

First, grilled or broiled items are much healthier than anything that is fried. Also, have your condiments included on the side and use them sparingly. Mayonnaise adds more calories than you would believe. Diet sodas, unsweetened tea, or water are another simple way to cut calories. Finally, stay with regular size meals. Fast food is unhealthy enough, so you do not need the extra calories a large fry would add.

The world of fast food is not a hopeless place.

Rather, if you exercise caution and eat smart, the All-American food can turn into a quick and happy meal.

friday

prepare for battle

32

“I actually never wore camo to school before, but today I wore my ghillie suit which basically looks like a big bush and I got first place.”

Andrew Mason

Taking a win for the senior class on spirit day Christopher Ford, Kevin Gillette, Kelly Johnson and Collin Chavez. Showing big enthusiasim for the sophomore class are Samantha Wittwer and Jonathan Ogata

spirit day

Kari Davis, Lisa Machado

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“I made a shirt that said Rocklin Thunder on the front and on the back it said class of ‘09 and I totally wore all blue and white... you know, to show off all my school spirit.”

Stephanie Fitzhugh

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“I was on the inside of the float opening the mouth of the orange hippo. Shaina sort of assigned me the job of pomping because people kept asking me to help them.“ Rachel Croopnick

“Last year float construction was at my house. I built the frame and helped with the battleship.

Christopher Africa

“I love float construction and the fact that people who are maybe not involved with a lot of school stuff and people who are involved a lot, come together.”

Courtney Buzdon

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“I built all the really hard stuff and that’s why they needed me. I’m pro. I didn’t think it would work.”

Cassidy Hilton

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Jon King

The allure of advertising

[McDonald’s employee] Employed for: 9 months Salary: $5.55

By using mascots and catchy phrases, advertisers work to appeal to youth. Below are eight slogans fast food restaurants have used to help advertise. See if you can match them up with the restaurants that use them.

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LAWRENCE NORTH HS Lynx, yb Indianapolis

1. “I’m Loving It”

5. “Eat great, even late”

2. “I’m thinking_____”

6. “Think outside the bun”

3. “Eat Fresh”

7. “Gather ‘round the good stuff”

4. “Have it your way”

8. “You gotta eat”

What types of tasks does your job involve?

I do everything. Some days I wash dishes take orders, and make change. Other days I cook meat and make sandwiches. There are tons of great tasks at “the dons.”

What is the worst thing about working at a fast food restaurant?

Telling people where you work, and the horrible amount of grease that has to be cleaned off everything.

What’s your favorite fast food item?

What is your favorite fast food item?

I like a lot of things, but my favorite meal would be the Big N’ Tasty with onions, but add cheese and a sidesalad and lemonade to drink.

1. McDonalds 2. Arby’s 3. Subway 4. Burger King 5. Wendy’s 6. Taco Bell 7. Pizza Hut 8. Rally’s

Fat Facts

Fat Facts

Fat Facts

Fat Facts

Calories: 150 Total Fat: 7 g.

Sat. Fat: 2.5 g.

Sodium: 360 mg.

Calories: 745 Total Fat: 48 g.

Sat. Fat: 20 g.

Sodium: 1860 mg.

Calories: 380 Total Fat: 20 g.

Sat. Fat: 5 g.

Sodium: 220 mg.

Calories: 770 Total Fat: 32 g.

Sat. Fat: 12 g.

Sodium: 1840 mg.

“The Taco Supreme from Taco Bell is the best. I love Taco Bell so much.”

-Kyle Plummer, 9

“I like the Big Buford from Rally’s with no tomato or onion. Rally’s has the best burgers.”

-Crystal Lear, 12

Taco Bell Taco Supreme

Rally’s Big Buford

“French Fries from McDonalds are my best friend... for real.”

-Mindy Ma, 10

• Nice Theme • Good color scheme • Creative playbook idea

After learning how the food is prepared, would you still eat it?

Absolutely! McDonalds is one of the cleanest restaurants I’ve ever seen.

Everything is cleaned many times a day. Also, the food has times on it, so it can’t sit out forever.

What is the best thing about working at a fast food restaurant?

The discount. Free food when you work and half-off the rest of the time.

“Mancino’s Ham and Cheese Grinder is the best because Korey makes them with love.”

-Jericka Webb, 11

McDonald’s French Fries

Mancino’s Grinder

RICHMOND HS The Register, np Richmond, Ind.

Tuesday, November 21 | issue

3 | issue Friday, November

• Bold use of color • Interesting content • Nice use of graphics

• Ribbon appears throughout • Chronological • Nice color scheme

Getting ready for the final touches on the senior float, Kayla Roberts opens the paint cans to add color.

food

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ROCKLIN HS Tonitrus, yb Rocklin, Calif.

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Working on the submarine of the battleship float, Rebecca Nitz cautiously paints over the windows of the ship.

Before they lifted the die onto the float, Emma Lyle paints the number black for the Jumanji themed float.

Kane Stevenson, Kevin Gillette, Ari Frink, Richie Ferris, Max Nesmith, Brogan Begley

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As part of the Hungry Hippos theme, Jonathan Aguilar, Robert Meador and Shannon Stowers paper mache orange balls.

Wayne Lininger, Eric Nunez, Matt Morales, Hakeem Snaif, Tyler Traynor, Jaymee Srp, Kaylee Layton, David Lobaccaro,

thursday

lthough Homecoming week was a time of messy games and screaming, students remained concerned with the postponed school.

Teachers pushed back test and due dates of projects. The challenge was that it buillt up all the important work at the end of the first quarter and students had less time to bring up grades. “I don’t like the fact that teachers give you all the work they should have given you during Homecoming week after and then you have to do a lot before the end of the quarter,” said Joselyn Del Cid.

Grant Speckert and Joel Day. “Mine are soccer trophies from different tournaments in my room, some of them are in the garage.”

Haley Franck, Evan Hanson,

!

colorie diet). And we wonder why obesity rates have more than doubled in the last ten years.

To raise the price tag further, let’s say you Super Size your meal adding only $.75 more for at least 20% more food. You are also adding 400 some calories to it. According to the film, Super Size Me, you would have to walk for seven hours straight to burn off a Super Sized Coke, fry, and Big Mac. Maybe you should put that dollar fifty in the bank instead. As much as the typical American eats at fast food restaurants a year (almost 190 times), you could save over $2,500 in twenty years. That is approximately the cost of liposuction, something you will need after eating all that fast food.

Competing in the orange juice game, Collin Chavez makes sure that the sticky juice stays in his mouth. Sitting in the amphitheater, John Malek and Emily Allyn watch students vote for Homecoming king and queen during the lunch time games. Holding up his arms to form an “X”, Matthew Longo strategizes techniques to fool his opponents. Putting on his own lunch time show, Charles Song drinks a two liter bottle of Mountain Dew in front of the amphitheater.

Trying to catch every drop, Jessica Subido races for the junior class to transfer the orange juice to the bottle. “I think most of the orange juice went down my shirt. It was definitely a messy experience,” said Jessica.

Showing their senior spirit, Farrin Smith and Kelly Benemelis root on their class in the rally games. Racing the clock, Reed Scherer stuffs his face into a Chipotle burrito. Preparing for a win at the rally, Tyler Salata gets lines drawn on his face. On the sidelines, Ashley Hearn prepares for the routine that the varsity team is performing at the end of the rally.

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Rob Scherer and Kyle D’ Amico

How often do you eat fast food?

oct

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Zack Zadrozna had more than five trophies along with

Tasty or Tasteless?

We can start with the taste. The meat taste in hamburgers does not come from the tender thigh of some black and white heifer that has been fattening up in the field for the past couple of years. Rather, it is a mixture of chemicals some Harvard graduate cooked up so McDonald’s could create a signature taste while spending less money on quality meat.

Or, take KFC, whose web site states its chicken contains “up to 43% of

a Solution of: Water, Seasoning, and Sodium In each of those McDonald’s cheeseburgers Phosphate.” You are paying $4.00 and are are 300 calories and 12 grams of fat. Upgrade getting more water than chicken. What a rip- to a Big Mac and you have 540 calories and 29 off. grams of fat. Nutritionists recommend 65 grams Don’t forget the fries. The potato flavor does of fat per day, and consuming half those calories not really come from the fresh, home-grown in one meal increases the likelihood you will potatoes fast food restaurants purchase. Rather, exceed that recommendation. it comes from a flavor plant in Dayton, Even the drinks are unhealthy. A 12 New Jersey. The factory mass oz. soft drink is the same as 10 produces the “French fry” spoonfuls of sugar. So next smell, for the aroma of time you’re thirsty and go food constitutes for for that 42 oz., think if 90% of the food’s you would enjoy eating taste. So next time 34 spoonfuls of sugar you stuff those with your meal. once a month greasy French It is not only the fries into your traditional fast food mouth, you can that’s packing on never once a week thank the flavorist the calories. Meals who created the that appear to be smell to help make “healthy” choices your food taste may have just as many good. calories as a Double every day Quarter Pounder. Taco Paying the Price Bell’s Fiesta Taco salad At about this time, you has 860 calories, and Arby’s are probably saying to yourself, Market Fresh Turkey Ranch and “So what? It’s cheap, and it tastes Bacon Sandwich has 834 calories. good. Who cares how it’s made?”

The food is a little more costly now, huh?

But how costly is the food really? Sure, the Still don’t believe me? Well, let’s take dollar menu at Taco Bell and McDonald’s is a McDonald’s popular number three meal, good deal. Who wouldn’t want to get a filling which includes two double cheeseburgers (880 meal complete with entrée, drink, and dessert calories), a medium Sprite (210 calories), and for just under $5? But check out the long term a medium fry (380 calories). That’s a total of costs.

1,470 calories, almost three quarters of your recommended calorie intake per day (in a 2,000

s ep

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Caitlin Mitchell

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If you can’t say it, you probably shouldn’t eat it

Daniel Casiano in language arts.

Monica Chazen

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Rob Scherer and Brandy Palm

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What’s your favorite fast food item?

Annie Reihman [opinion] How would you like to eat Dimethylpolysiloxane, an anti-foaming agent?

What about Silicon Dioxiode, an anti-caking agent? Kind of makes you want to lose your lunch, right? Well, unfortunately for many Americans, these are common ingredients in their lunch. In fact, they are the ingredients that KFC puts into their chicken.

Kind of makes you stop and think. What am I really eating when I put those tasty hamburgers and greasy French fries into my mouth? How can something that only takes a couple seconds to make taste so good? Well the truth is, fast food is much more deceiving than it looks.

The Homecoming Rally marked a turn around in the spirit point totals with the juniors coming back from last place and getting first in the rally. Zachary Barney said “Personally, I think that people don’t think we have much of a shot, but if we follow our game plan and do our job and execute, then we will have success.” This was exactly what happened compared to their “too good for this” motto in the previous rallies.

Assisting the win in the rally, Bryan Oliver won the Candyland game by eating the most candy. “Tyler Garrison was yelling at me and telling me that I was stupid being in the candy eating contest because we had a soccer game at 3:45. I told him that I had it under control.

I ended throwing it all up after the rally. It was pretty gross,” said Bryan.

The Chipotle prize proved a strong incentive in this rally.

“Being a junior, I thought it was great that the juniors won the rally, not only because we got Chipotle, but we also showed the other classes that if we want to win, we have what it takes,” said Monica Fein.

Month

“The Spicy Chicken Sandwich is the best chicken sandwich hands down.”

-Jeremy Homer, 11

Samantha Lawrence

Calories: 480 Total Fat: 17 g.

Sat. Fat: 6 g.

Sodium: 1400 mg.

“Double cheeseburger with Mac sauce and lettuce. It’s the cheap way to get a Big Mac with less carbs.”

-Broc Cole, 11

Rachel Robins

Calories: 440 Total Fat: 23 g.

Sat. Fat: 11 g.

Sodium: 1150 mg.

Calories: 210 Total Fat: 10 g.

Sat. Fat: 4 g.

Sodium: 1150 mg.

“Soft tacos from Taco Bell, no lettuce, and lot of taco sauce. Taco sauce is the best condiment.”

-Olivia Gray, 11

TOP PAGE EDGE

academic overf l o

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Calories: 210 Total Fat: 11 g.

Sat. Fat: 4 g.

Sodium: 295 mg.

“They are not too big, not too small, not too soft, not too hard, and seasoned to perfection.”

-Jill Johnson, 12

Fat Facts

Kyle Chatelain

Fat Facts

Fat Facts

GUTTER

Fat Facts

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at Homecoming Rally everyone was

Samantha Wittwer

TOP PAGE EDGE

Taco Bell Soft Taco McDonald’s Dbl. Cheeseburger Wendy’s Spicy Chicken

Caitlin Mitchell

Rally’s French Fries

Wasting Away As drinking becomes more and popular more teens, among the negative efbecome fects clearer|10 ariel sinha

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SHAWNEE MISSION WEST HS Epic, nm Overland Park, Kan. • Modular layout • Nice photography • Good typography

Super Fans | 16 coaches prepare As players and play, fans of Vifor postseason e even more king football becom ariel sinha by photo ed. spirit

Powderpuff 2006: A Ride to ‘08 Gets Smoked Remembe r |15 The girls from the class of ‘07remain undefeated in powderpuff play following a 23-0 beatdown of the juniors. photo by ariel sinha

The Vik ing season wit football team cap h a trip to the big s off a remark able game pho to by ariel

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