By Haleigh Ehmsen–
The district staff policy, which has its first reading at the board meeting Dec. 12, has a new addition. This rule hits hard with students who write articles and take pictures for the school’s online newspaper, The Mustang Moon. It states, “Refrain from using a student’s full name when posting work; especially online.”
I write for the newspaper because I enjoy the satisfaction of a good story or letting the public know my opinion. But as a senior, it also looks good on my college applications. My mom posts the links to my articles on her Facebook page and I receive feedback. Sometimes the recognition is what drives me to write my next story.
The internet creates a huge audience and students are motivated to work harder on their work when they know others will read it. Alan November of the National Association of Secondary School Principals wrote in his book Empowering Students with Technology, “The effect of an audience or crowd is one of the strongest catalysts of student motivation.” Recognition for work is key and students “have a developmental need to know that they can make a difference.” Writing for the internet is becoming almost necessary to reach an audience as society starts to read their news online, instead of in print.
Last Thursday, the University of Iowa’s International Writing program made front page news in the Gazette for adapting to the changing medium in news and writing.The program is finding that many of their students have an online writing background. Writing for blogs or online journals is becoming more common. Ian Rosales Casocot, a prizewinning writer in the program said, “Our work as writers will ultimately follow and conform to the type of technology that constantly emerges .”
Some students gain recognition through sports with their peers cheering them on, others through theater with their peers coming to the show and congratulating them. Journalism students gain recognition through their publications and at Mt. Vernon, that being mainly with the online newspaper. Our print edition only comes out once a month as an insert in The Sun, but students update the online newspaper weekly.
Frank LoMonte of the NY Times said, “Students who are allowed to make their own editorial judgments – with a light hand of guidance from a well-trained faculty adviser – experience the pride and validation for which teenagers are starved.” As high school students, our lives can be crazy and hectic trying to live up to expectations of our teachers and parents. Journalism teaches students to develop communication and writing skills, which will certainly be used in college and their future careers. Along with these skills, journalism gives students a sense of pride and satisfaction for either reporting on a story or sharing their opinion.
Journalism for me is a way of moving on. Among all the stress in my life, I have to keep going because the world won’t stop and wait for me to get back up. I have to keep reporting and sharing my opinion because there is new news every day.
We cannot simply ignore the way our society is changing. While ignorance may be bliss, knowledge is power. We need to adapt to the technology that is being set before us. We are lucky to have such an updated online newspaper and it would unfair to take away the rights students have to publish their work.