Thursday, March 28, 2024

Cascade High School Publications students develop skills and achieve high standards

Posted

The class, Publications, at Cascade High School, has been full of action in October. No sleepy lectures, textbook reading or exams are on the schedule. Rather, it feels like a business office, with a quick huddle at the beginning of the class, followed by teams working on deadlines for their part of a very large project.

Publications, taught by Roselyn Robison, is responsible for the CHS yearbook and a monthly digital newspaper, the Kodiak Chronicle. Neither are small tasks, and especially not the yearbook. It will run about 160 pages long, and its content will encapsulate the essence of the students, staff, clubs, sports, newsworthy events, trends, perspectives, customs, and accolades within its covers.

The newspaper comes out only once a month but still challenges the students, as they’re expected to write six articles over the course of the year, using various journalistic styles. The articles and video blogs are uploaded to a website that was student-built two years ago, when they made the switch from print to digital. The Kodiak Chronicle now has a larger audience beyond the school building because parents and community members can also access it (www.thekodiakchroincle.wixsite.com/news).

On a day-to-day basis, the yearbook always takes precedence. Photos and timely quotes must be collected in order to document whatever is noteworthy each week in the life of CHS. Robison described how the students work on four-week sprints, with phases for gathering content, followed by production, and then editing. Recently, in teams, the students were completing the photos by grade sections and designing club and senior superlatives pages.

Robison has done a valiant job leading these efforts, especially given she was hired as an English teacher, which she still also teaches. “I didn’t know what I was getting into,” she said. She built up her own expertise by taking summer training and teaching herself elements of journalism and graphic design.

However, Robison doesn’t have to know it all because, if the program is working effectively, every year, new leaders are cultivated in the younger grades to make next year’s Advanced Publications students and senior editors, who have a depth of knowledge, especially in the areas that they like best.

The program has been growing. When Robison first started, there were only three students, and now there’s 22, which includes students involved via a club instead of class because they have already taken the class and still want to contribute.

Another clear mark of the program’s success is their collection of awards, winning first places through the American Scholastic Press Association for both yearbook and digital newspaper for the past two school years.

Senior editors, Alaina Wall and Vanessa West, shared thoughts on what makes their teams produce such high-quality publications. Wall described how each team member has a role. “You need to know the background of the spread that you are working on, and to truly care about the spread.” Some students excel at technical writing while others have a knack for visual layouts, she said.

“It takes a team to accomplish the many things we do in Publications,” added West. “But it also has to do with what unique attribute each member can bring to the table.”

Junior Isabel Menna was recognized with a first-place individual award for an outstanding story in a digital newspaper. The article, written in 2020, examined the Spanish flu of 1918. “I thought that there was probably a great historical story to be had and lessons to be learned,” said Menna. “As I conducted my research, I also concluded that there were many lessons learned from the Spanish flu that were forgotten, and mistakes that were repeated during the early days of COVID.” Menna added local context to the piece by drawing from newspaper archives and interviewing a local historian.

Robison explained that, while they are proud of their awards, they enter the competitions in order to receive judges’ feedback, so they can continue to improve their products. Comments such as “be careful with superimposing text on a photo” and “avoid photos that are too small” have been easy to implement in later yearbooks.

As for this year’s publications, Wall and West are excited to create another innovative and memorable yearbook.

“I'm proud for the opportunity to make the 2023 yearbook cover with my art,” said Wall “I have always wanted my artwork to mean something. I hope everyone will love it, and it can be part of their high school experience.”

Wall worked on cover art all summer, and she was recently in the final stages of the cover design. The image features an abstract geometric Kodiak bear, making one think of a kaleidoscope. It suits the theme, “From every angle” perfectly. The final touches included considering how much shine effect to add to the letters, and their position in relation to the art.

In regard to the yearbook, West said, “I'm most proud of our photography skills. It can be difficult to capture everything that happens in such a short period of time, but we always manage to make sure to include everybody and all the events with often funny and memorable photos.”

Maddie Black is a junior who enjoys Publications for the opportunity to be creative, be part of a team, and learn a lot of practical uses for English language arts skills and photography. Deadlines and accountability mean students develop a lot of career readiness skills. The whole school benefits from the labors of the Publications students. The Kodiak Chronicle and the yearbook document and celebrate the important moments and the spirit of CHS.


 

Comments

No comments on this item Please log in to comment by clicking here