#NCSMI2021 Advisers and Students Reflect on the Past Year
Steve Hanf
Adviser, First Flight High
Looking back on last year, what was lost? How was your publication impacted negatively?
We basically were remote for the whole year until fourth quarter, so the biggest loss was the FUN of being in a publications classroom: the national convention trip to Orlando, the closer conference trips to South Carolina and – of course! – UNC. The Christmas potluck and gift exchange. The deadline pizza nights. The yearbook distribution party. All the random zany conversations that take place in the journalism classroom. Newspaper and yearbook are hard work, and without those fun memories, the classes become more like … hard work. I’ll be losing some students in both classes moving forward because they didn’t get to enjoy the true publications experience and have decided it wasn’t for them, and I wouldn’t be surprised if other advisers across the state find themselves in similar situations.
What was gained? Did anything improve or change positively?
Because of the challenges, I think we gained a lot of respect from folks in our building as well as parents and others in the community simply by still managing to produce good publications. The biggest comment we heard about our yearbook was people being surprised at how “it almost looked like it was a normal year” with the stuff we managed to cover. For newspaper, I think we gained another step forward in showing what we can do with our website, although more work remains – as always – for that.
How will you use what you learned this year with your student media outlet next year?
By reaching for so much coverage outside of school, I think we’ll be able to move forward with additional “thinking outside the box” coverage ideas and try to make them a more regular part of the yearbook. And to the first question, I think we’ll endeavor to find even MORE ways to have fun and enjoy the camaraderie of publications class after remembering how much of that we lost this past year.
Neal Morgan
Adviser, East Chapel Hill High
Looking back on last year, what was lost? How was your publication impacted negatively?
For me, the biggest loss was that sense of togetherness. I love watching a group of students come together to make something they can be proud of, and that just wasn’t the same this year. I missed the laughter, the working lunches, the feeling of camaraderie that emerges from our staff each year. We did the best we could, and I’m proud of what my students accomplished, but we were more like tiny individual islands rather than a team.
What was gained? Did anything improve or change positively?
The way our hybrid plan worked our, we decided not to publish any print issues. Some worked, some didn’t, but we definitely learned a lot. Without the structure of school, we also turned to our community a lot more. I’m really proud of the local journalism my students published this year. Without the print schedule, we were also more responsive in our coverage, publishing things faster and covering things that might have slipped through the cracks if they has happened in “the wrong week” of our print production process.
How will you use what you learned this year with your student media outlet next year?
This was the best our website has ever been. For us, the challenge will be how do we balance the freedom and flexibility of publishing online with the demands of producing a print issue every month? How do we continue the great strides we made in digital content when now we have to add a lot of hours on InDesign back into our schedule? So that’s the top goal for my student editors: taking what we learned this year and applying all those benefits to our traditional schedule.
Marissa Detwiler
Student, West Henderson High
Looking back on last year, what was lost? How was your publication impacted negatively?
Looking back on last year, in-class participation was lost. It was difficult for many students to complete assignments in distracting home environments, not to mention the mental health issues many students faced during the pandemic. As a result, development on our publication progressed much slower than usual and some students lost their overall motivation, not that I blame them.
What was gained? Did anything improve or change positively?
In terms of the positives, COVID-19 forced our journalism staff to develop new perspectives that made our stories more unique. Our stories now mark an era of striking political divides, social justice movements, and a global pandemic. How much more interesting could a publication get?
How will you use what you learned this year with your student media outlet next year?
This year forced our staff to utilize new communication methods and technologies. We will continue to use these innovative techniques to improve our publication in the future.
Compiled by 2020-2021 Student Officers
Photos courtesy of Steve Hanf