Feather members improve writing abilities, communication skills

The key turns, the door opens, they roll the chairs to the table. Advisors and editors greet their staff peers. Laptops, cameras and phones serve the high school journalism team as they seek truth, and the story behind each person in each article.

The Feather strives to enlarge their audience. The Feather utilizes social media and it’s website to share campus, community and national news from a high school student’s perspective.

This year’s team consists of 36 members, each working to generate the content for patrons of the publication. First year member, Megan LeBlanc, ‘20, shares why she decided to join The Feather.

“At the beginning, I didn’t want to join because a lot of people said it was very stressful and it wasn’t going to be fun,” LeBlanc said. “My schedule was easy so I decided to challenge myself with something more difficult. I love the Feather now, it’s one big happy family and I’m very proud of the decision I made.”

While new members learn the ropes of being on the team, senior veteran Alex Rurik, explains how The Feather has affected his school life for the past four years.

“The Feather isn’t a ‘core’ class,” Rurik said. “It’s something outside of strict academics. Therefore, it is it’s own thing. Unlike an actual class, it’s a fun group to be a part of because it’s like being on a competitive sports team, only for journalism. I’ve loved my time in it. I’ve created so many lasting memories, skills and gained so much from it.”

The journalism class has sparked an interest in kids to write even before high school, including Rurik, who began writing for the The Feather as a seventh grade student. Younger sister of senior editor Kamryn Schultz, Tessa Schultz, ‘23, considers writing for the program this year.

“I like writing and I thought it would be fun,” Tessa said. “Both my older sisters are on The Feather and I thought it was cool that both of my sisters were doing it. I love writing in general so it seems like an easy choice. I am excited to start writing.”

The Feather media team, capture photos and videos of student life on campus and the many events as well. The Feather utilizes an app called “SmugMug”, to put pictures taken on campus to view and even buy.

A professional photographer, Feather adviser and chief designer, Kori Friesen, teaches and guides students pursuing photography. Friesen speaks on SmugMug and why the community should know about it.

“SmugMug is an online platform for purchasing photos and a lot of photographers use SmugMug as a selling directory for photos that people can purchase,” Friesen explained. “The Feather takes photos all year long at most events on campus; if there is something big going on, typically, we are there with cameras.”

The campus community have often inquired to purchase The Feather photos from its coverage of school events. SmugMug’s addition was the photojournalism team’s idea to have a platform to provide images for students, parents, and others to not only look at, but purchase.

“Over the years, several people have asked, ‘How do I get my hands on those photos?’” Friesen said. “So, we thought it was a great idea to use SmugMug as a place to organize all of the imagery, so if people in our community wanted to purchase them, they could keep up with what their kids are involved in when on campus.”

The Feather works every day to produce and share new content to its readers and viewers, often changing eight to ten times a day.

Help the paper by sharing with your friends what you read on The Feather! Plus, the staff would appreciate comments on articles to let them know you read it. Plus, find The Feather on Twitter, Instagram, Vimeo, SoundCloud and Facebook. Engage with the high school newspaper.

To read about homecoming last week, read Homecoming Happily Ever After: 34th annual FC homecoming. For more on the campus journalism team, read News Engagement Day recognizes the importance of news involvement.

Max Munoz can be reached via email and via Twitter.