Black & Gold – See the Winter Issue
Feb. 23, 2017 -- The Heights High school newspaper, Black and Gold, is in the second year of publishing after several years of a hiatus.
A hard copy printed version premiered in February with another issue scheduled for this spring and a web based publication is ongoing.
Students in the two classes of the Journalism Course are the publication’s main staff members but a few other students are also involved in the production and meet after school.
English teacher Courtney White teaches the Journalism course.
“The role of the paper is to tell the good news about our school and to have information that students can relate to,” said senior staff writer Alyssa Moore. In the latest issue, Alyssa wrote an article about the “The best winter activities in the Cleveland area on a student’s budget.”
Senior staff writer Brandon Onwudinjo wrote about the District’s free lunch program. More recently he wrote an article about “The top 10 TV Shows that are better than the books they are based on.” He is interested in media and said “I like writing lighter pieces, like what you would find on Buzzfeed.”
Junior staff writer Kimberly Fisher loves writing and is interested in presenting the truth to students. “That might be hard, but I want to work on that,” she said.
Sophomore staff writer Veronica Winters enjoys writing about sports. She is working on a feature article about a high scoring hockey player and in the latest issue she wrote about the Heights High Hockey team’s winning season. She also values the paper as an avenue for student voice. “It is important to have a place for students to voice their opinions,” she said.
Freshman staff writer Madalyn Shelt is interested in politics and informing students about local and national politics. “I like that we can get the news to students that they might not get in other places,” she said. She hopes to focus on opinion pieces and encouraging students to participate in our democracy.
The Black and Gold publication is growing and Journalism teacher Courtney White plans to publish another hard copy this spring and on a quarterly schedule next school year.
“We are definitely in a building phase now and I am looking forward to having more students trained to write, edit, take photos and create story leads,” she said. “It is very exciting be involved in the rejuvenation of the Black and Gold.”