Students reflect on week of activity, opportunities to grow

What a week of scholastic journalism! From First Amendment lunch activities to articles about student voice, the Fresno Christian campus buzzed with support for The Feather Online.

Students liked and commented on the Feather’s social media posts, using #SJW2018 and the Scholastic Journalism Week daily hashtag to promote The Feather’s engagement in student news from Feb. 18-24. The week’s theme, “Student Voice, Student Choice” shone on the faces of posters and flyers, encouraging students to share news they want The Feather to cover.

In Tuesday’s chapel, students heard some words from the journalism advisers, spreading awareness about the week. Advisers Greg Stobbe, Kori Friesen and the editors talked about the Feather’s accomplishments and the importance of getting involved. The Feather hoped to share the benefits of scholastic journalism with their student body.

Freshman journalist Jacob Hyatt experienced Scholastic Journalism Week for the first time this year. He shares what he did to support The Feather this week.

“This week I asked people to comment on articles and like our social media feeds,” Hyatt said. “It’s a little stressful having extra-curricular activities and The Feather at the same time, but I think we did well this week with all the articles we wrote and all the work we’ve put in. I’m really excited to see how the Feather grows from this week.”

Each day of the week claimed a different hashtag created by the Journalism Education Association for Scholastic Journalism Week. The daily themes were Press On Monday, Make a Difference Tuesday, Work Happy Wednesday, New Voices Thursday and First Amendment Friday.

Twitter editor Braden Bell, ’20, shares his opinion of the benefits of Twitter and social media after going through his second Scholastic Journalism Week on The Feather team.

“Over the past week I have really learned a lot,” Bell said. “I’ve learned more about the importance of social media and tagging. Social media is easily accessible to all and a great way to spread the news. These days, many people are active on platforms such as Snapchat, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram and that is arguably the biggest way teens receive their news. Posting on Twitter specifically is important as it occurs. It is crucial to keep people informed about whatever is going on in a timely manner or else it becomes old news which is no longer relevant.

“Tagging is also a huge part of social media,” Bell continued. “When you hashtag something or @ someone it makes it way easier for your post to get noticed and the news to be spread. Tagging helps bigger and more well-known sites engage with you which adds credibility to your site.”

Schools across the nation participated in the week’s activities by using these daily hashtags in social media posts.

FHS Press from Freedom, PA gets involved in Scholastic Journalism Week by making videos, featuring archived articles and hosting a school-wide Kahoot! game. Journalism adviser Aaron Fitzpatrick pushes his staff to engage in the week because they believe in the importance of student voice.

“Too often in today’s society, unflattering facts are dismissed as ‘fake news’, and journalism is demonized,” Fitzpatrick said. “I truly believe that the dissemination of well-sourced, honest information can and will help restore the public’s faith in the field. It is my hope that sharing that passion for truth with my staff will resonate with them through their writing and help make the next generation better critical thinkers and problem solvers.”

CHS senior KCBY Program Director Ashwin Suresh talks about his experience as a high school journalist and how it has positively affected his life.

CHS senior and KCBY program director @ashwinxsuresh shares how journalism has impacted his life. #SJW2018 pic.twitter.com/0BfddVetaB

— Sidekick Campus News (@CHSCampusNews) February 23, 2018

The FHS Press staff prints the words “Press On” on to t-shirts, displaying enthusiasm for student journalism and a striving for truth. The shirts indicate FHS Press staff stands for justice, and uses “Truth is powerful, and it prevails.” – Sojourner Truth as their inspiration for Scholastic Journalism Week.

“Truth is powerful, and it prevails.” – Sojourner Truth. Here’s to the intrepid student journalists whose work espouses those words in their actions and writing, even in the face of dissent. #PressOn #SJW2018 @ScholasticJWeek pic.twitter.com/11C0vLD99k

— FHS Press (@FHSPress) February 19, 2018

Broadening the scope of journalism’s influence, the Feather staff talked to the junior high about their interest in journalism and how it has impacted them as junior highers.

On “Work Happy Wednesday”, the Feather staff gathered in the cafeteria to time students as they wrote the first five freedoms off of memory. Those who finished in under 15 seconds were put into a raffle to win gift cards to various places.

Ava Garcia, ‘23, had her name drawn during the activity. She shares how it feels to win a $10 gift card to Starbucks.

“It feels good to win this challenge,” Garcia said. “I studied hard before I did the activity and now I really remember the freedoms. It was fun to see how many seconds I could write them in and how that’s going to help me for when I have to take the Constitution test.”

The Feather staff met in the publications lab on “New Voices Thursday” to celebrate Stobbe’s birthday with cake, donuts and sparkling cider. They celebrated a man who continuously encourages students to share their voice.

Feather staff sounds off on timely, important school safety issues https://t.co/MN0IelWf4e Share your #NewVoices, opinion in the article’s comment section. #SJW2018 @ScholasticJWeek @nationalJEA #thefeather

— The Feather Online (@thefeather) February 22, 2018

On “First Amendment Friday”, the biggest Feather supporter during the week was determined and will be announced in chapel, Feb. 27, winning a $50 gift card to Dick’s Sporting Goods.

Feather editor, Sam Cross, ’19, reflects on Scholastic Journalism Week and shares what he learned. Cross began his varsity baseball season during SJW week, competing against Fresno High, Feb. 21.

“This week I learned about the importance of the student voice,” Cross said. “The Feather used Scholastic Journalism week as an opportunity to engage with peers from across the country and the campus student body. School newspapers offer all students a voice. Members of the Feather staff will cover what different high school newspapers are doing in the area. In coming days, I will a publish a piece on homelessness in the community of Fresno, to give those who don’t have a voice, an opportunity to speak out.

“Not only did the Feather continue regular coverage campus sports, staff members also undertook the task of spotlighting SJW’s theme of ‘Student Voice, Student Choice,”‘ Cross continued. “Blog editor Juliana Lozano began the week with a column sharing her experiences and what she learned during her two years working with The Feather.”

Scholastic Journalism Week continues to stimulate news engagement in schools nationwide. You can continue to support the Feather by liking, commenting on and tweeting posts.

The most engaged student award will be determined later today. The Feather will give a Dick’s Sporting Goods gift card to the winner, which will be announced in chapel, Feb. 27. Check out the video below filmed and edited by Kaden Friesen!

For more articles, check out Join the Discussion: Feather staff shares views on controversial topics or Video productions team continues to grow under Matthew Vincent.

Addison Schultz can be reached via email: Addison Schultz and via twitter @SchultzAddison.