In previous years, yearbook, newspaper and broadcast have had separate classes when they would occur. In the 2024-2025 school year Lynx, North Star and Cats Eye are now together in Student Media. Student Media offers many life skills for students who take this class.
”The beauty of student media is it’s full of life skills—communication, teamwork, time management, meeting deadlines, and taking criticism. It’s about using suggestions to improve your work, grammar, presenting yourself, thinking about ethics, and recognizing right and wrong. It’s about giving everyone a voice and shining a spotlight on different people. These skills translate into many areas,” Heather Klopfenstein, adviser, said.
Students can also take these skills with them long after graduation.
“Many of my past media students aren’t in journalism; they’re in marketing, advertising, law, or medicine. They say that this class taught them how to ask questions, talk to people, and conduct interviews, helping them in job interviews. I believe everyone should take a communications class because these skills are valuable anywhere,” Klopfenstein said.
When taking the Student Media class, students can help take photos for that year’s yearbook or the North Star newspaper website. Students can also learn how to write stories, upload pictures, and film interviews to potentially get put onto Cats Eye TV which is Lawrence North’s morning announcements. Students can also learn photography when taking this class, students can learn how to download images from a DSLR camera, and which setting to use when taking certain photos. Many students who are currently taking this class during the 2024-2025 school year have had different opinions as the year went on. “I feel like throughout the year, I have become more responsible with my work because I have been doing a lot of things outside of school as well as inside of the school and it made me feel more responsible,” Quintez Fisher said.
With how both Lynx and Newspaper are set up this year, it is both easier and harder for both Heather Klopfenstein and Buffy Hostetler who are the teachers in Student Media for the 2024-2025 school year. “I think it is both easier and harder. I resisted the change at first, but now I see it’s working. We’re still learning, but each year we’ll get better. The real challenge is merging the production cycles of yearbook, newspaper, and media together. It’s like in the real world, where media is all connected now. Former students who used to just write stories now also take photos and videos. We’re training students for that, preparing them for things like managing social media, not just writing press releases,” Klopfenstein said.
Adviser Buffy Hostetler also agrees that it is both easier and harder now that both Lynx and Newspaper are now put together “This year is only my third year teaching Yearbook. In my first year, I did not know much, so then last year I knew more and now this year, I know a lot more. When we started this year, I was stressed out but, working with Mrs. Klopfenstein we did develop and create cool stuff. It’s so cool seeing kids collaborate and it is really coming together now,” Hoststeler said.
In conclusion during the 2024-2025 school year student media with it now being all together in one class, different opinions have been shared. Many people think student media should be a required class to help students socialize more and get outside of their comfort zone.
