Lincoln High School’s Computer Journalism Class
An Inside Look at Computer Journalism
By Mia Greer
March 18, 2024
Computer Journalism is a class at Lincoln High School that promotes and covers events in the area for students, families, staff, and peers.
Many writers of the journalism class and staff recommend Journalism to improve your writing skills as well as their social skills
“I think it helps you to learn how to get out of your shell, it helps you to better your writing skills for more purposes, it's fun,” said English/Journalism teacher Kelly Ward. “You get some new responsibilities but if you're up to the task then it's a good place to be, all the writers are really nice and Mr. Ward is a really cool guy.”
English Teacher Cory Foxen thinks students should take Journalism, Foxen thinks students would love it, as well as love Mr. Ward
“In general it is but Mr. Ward is also awesome and I'm kind of biased but I think he's a great teacher,” said Foxen. “I see you guys enjoying it and actually writing so yeah I think its great and I think students would love it, and I tell my students that it's there and that they should try it.”
Senior student Skylar Reager recommends taking Journalism to help improve your writing techniques.
“Yes, I think the journalism class is a good class for learning different writing techniques, and just if you need a computer class like I did last year, I think that is also a great class to take for it,” said Reager
Skylar enjoys being class editor and helping fellow classmates with publishing their articles
“My favorite thing about this class is probably being the editor and being able to help with people getting interviews done,” said Reager. “Getting their stories done, then celebrating the release of the stories after each round.”
Lincoln High School staff member Kyle Morris recommends taking Computer Journalism because he thinks it's a dying art and it could help students learn how to do research.
“It's a dying art and there are a lot of people out there who call themselves journalists, ‘big J’ journalists who aren't that,” said Morris. “They are just entertainers, I think journalism can really help kids learn how to research and how to value the truth and tell a story that other people may not be able to hear from one reason to another.''
Senior student Hailey Gordon enjoys being able to be more involved with the school events around the Lincoln High School Campus.
“My favorite thing about this class is it just makes me think about things I usually don't think about on a normal basis because when I go to school I'm not thinking about all the sports things, all the events going on and the dances,” said Gordon. “I'm just thinking about my grades and my friends so I like hearing about things that I don't usually hear about. It's really cool as well as getting other opinions on things.”
Lincoln High School’s new Computer Journalism Class has been around for 2 years, Staff Members plan on keeping this class around in the future.
“This is the second year, so around two years, well I mean in its current form it's been around for 2 years, before that we had Zebra Tales written as a physical paper,” said Ward. “That was around for a little while and it was running when I got here, my plan is to keep Computer Journalism around until they tell me to quit.”
Kyle Morris often reads the articles students publish, he’s also very proud of Mr Ward for all his hard work keeping Computer Journalism in line.
“I read all of them and I'm particularly proud of Mr Ward and all the work that he puts in,” said Morris. “I know how rambunctious his students can be so I know it can be tough for him to put out such a quality product with students he has.”
Even though being editor for Journalism is stressful and time consuming Skylar Reager enjoys helping students when writing their articles
“For the most part, yes, sometimes there are situations where I get a little stressed because not everyone has their story turned in on time, and so I have to hunt them down and ask for it,” Reager said. “Editing also takes a lot of work and time which I don't always have. But all in all, I love being an editor. It's very rewarding to see my stories that I've helped people write on the website.”
Junior Student Taylor Hodge plans on taking journalism again next school year
“Yes I plan on taking this class again next year because it helped my social skills a lot and become a better writer,” Hodge said.
Mr Morris would be interested in seeing more articles about students political views as well as a feature on the most fascinating teacher, Kyle Morris
“I think there should be more articles about how Mr. Morris is probably the most fascinating teacher on campus,” Morris said. “I would also like to see some articles about some kids on campus who have political voices and a really strong understanding of the political system I’d really be interested to hear what there opinions are on current events politically, but I know that's pretty tough, putting such a strong thing out there.”
Morris thinks there should be some games as well as some recipes added to the website to entertain the readers
“You guys need to find a way to put a daily crossword puzzle because then you're just driving traffic to the site constantly. Maybe you could also add some funnies, some recipes, I have some gas recipes that I would love to share,” Morris said.
Mr Morris enjoyed designing the headers for the Journalism website and helping Mr. Ward.
“I asked him if he would like me to design the headers for the website,” Morris said. “[Ward] said yes, and I said ‘bet on god I gotchu fam.’”
Cory Foxen thinks reading Journalisms articles helps him get to know things a lot better and enjoyed reading a feature article on Mrs. Hladun written by Giselle Ramirez
“Well obviously the one that just came out about Mrs. Hladun. It was just cool cause she's so busy and you know I think it's helpful for staff to even get to know her a little bit more so that was cool. I really liked that one,” Foxen said. “Honestly I think you guys do a good job covering all the details, yeah I think you guys do a great job.”