DHS students spreading news

May 27—DANVILLE — This weekend's Danville High School graduation is capping off a busy month for students and staff working on the quarterly Maroon and White school newspaper, and yearbook, to gather photos of senior activities and end-of-year sports seasons.

The newspaper, in print and digital versions, made a return this school year with its latest edition this month. Yearbooks are now mailed to students in the summer.

Students work on the newspaper, yearbook and daily school news broadcasts with teachers Joanna Howard, in her 23rd year of teaching and who teaches graphic design and other classes, and Kara Hile, in her 12th year at DHS and whose classes include multimedia broadcasting and photography.

The newspaper returned after a break.

"I think with Covid it was probably difficult to put out a newspaper when the students were remote. I think in the past there had been even talk about it going online during Covid," Hile said.

Howard added that there weren't a lot of events going on during that time either to do stories on.

Hile and Howard took over the newspaper this year with their classes.

The first three issues of the Maroon & White came out in October 2022, January 2023 and March 2023. The fourth issue, with mostly senior features, came out this week.

The goal was to put out one issue per quarter, Hile said.

They printed copies, going back to the traditional school newspapers. The last print copies were more 8 1/2 by 11-sized newsletters.

"We wanted to sort of go back to the traditional actual newspaper," Hile said.

They print the copies, which have been 10-12 pages, through Kelly Printing in Danville.

"We're pretty happy with the way that it turned out," Hile said. "We're starting out with just a few limited copies of each issue."

At the end of this year, they will decide how to move forward.

Do they want to sell the newspaper to students? Do they want people to sign up for subscriptions, or sponsor it?

Howard said Hile's multimedia class typically goes out and collects the stories. The photography class collects the photos. Howard's graphic design class does the newspaper layout.

Howard said they share the duties.

The multimedia class develops the outline for the stories for each issue.

"We wanted to focus on everyone; and it's all positive, good news. That was always going to be our goal," Hile said. "We wanted to keep it positive, and we wanted to keep it all about Danville High School, and things going on in the community if that was applicable."

A poll on the clear backpacks was a more controversial item they had in the newspaper this year.

With 2023 being Principal Tracy Cherry's retirement year, a feature story in each newspaper revolved around her, her retirement and celebrating her career and legacy at DHS.

"We always wanted to highlight the arts and music and sports. So, we reached out to former Danville High School athletes, both professional and collegiate athletes, we interviewed them and collected photos. That was kind of exciting," Hile said.

"Everyone that we reached out to is really receptive about being involved and sharing their stories," she added.

For other stories, the students focused on one class, an elective, in each issue. It's a way for teachers to recruit for the next school year.

There are student polls that touch on different subjects, showing where they are in culture and which will be a good historical piece, Howard said.

Every issue also has had a staff throwback, such as with prom and senior photos.

"That's been kind of fun," Howard said.

"This staff has gotten involved in a way that we maybe thought that they might not," Hile said. "But it's been really fun."

Hile said they give the students story and photo deadlines, and the students have been meeting them.

Howard added that with a "divide and conquer" approach, it's kind of busy only a few days a month in getting the newspaper to print.

Once they got the general layout done, it was a matter of proofreading, getting it all put into the template and getting the pages to work out correctly, she said.

"It takes less time now than it did the first issue," Howard said.

Hile said she gives students about a week to collect and write the stories. She usually proofs and revises the stories, before passing them onto Howard.

"I feel like we really mastered it," Hile said. "I think we were nervous at first. There was an expectation that we do this and we do it right. We've been really pleased with the way it's turned out."

The newspaper is posted on DHS' Facebook page and website. Students and staff receive emailed color copies.

Newspaper print copies are in some classrooms and at the front desk of the David L. Fields Administrative Service Center. A master collection will be part of the library's collection.

"I think people are excited that it's back," Hile said.

Howard said by not having the newspaper produced as part of a journalism class, but incorporating it into what DHS already has, students still can discover media career opportunities.

A few students are interested in going into journalism, broadcasting and graphic design.

Howard, Hile and their students also work on the yearbook and the news channel throughout the school year.

The yearbooks no longer have a spring supplement, and encapsulate the entire year from start to finish. Hile said they use a New Jersey book printing company to print them. Howard and her students handle the layout work and Hile and her students take care of the photography, interviews and other things.

Multimedia broadcasting students also record the Homeroom News, which still called Channel 1 News by some.

The daily student announcements can be viewed on the DHS News YouTube channel.