Behind the Scenes: The Making of the Warrior Press
Updated: Oct 6
By: Staff Writer
Watkins had a Journalism class for years, but for a long time now without the resources to produce a physical newspaper, something that is becoming a lost art anyway.
So, we figured now was the right time to begin an online paper!
The Vision
Like many ideas, it started as a rough sketch on a piece of paper. Once the Journalism class began, we brainstormed the name, the layout, and began to figure out what students were able to produce what content. This is really an ongoing and changing process as the vision changes with every student or faculty idea. So keep coming back to see what is new!
Defining the Niche
As our class brainstormed things out, several categories quickly emerged: Sports, Arts & Culture, and News. Later, we found resources that allowed us to post numerous pictures and some students were outstanding at editing, while others preferred to write stories or even produce cartoons, and some knew best how to make things appear online and code so this all worked together.
Building the Team
A strong team is the backbone of any successful publishing. The Warrior Press is a Journalism class with many talents, each bringing their own expertise to the table. The team includes:
Editor: Katheryn (Katie) Browning - handles making sure the articles of most interest get top billing on the page, and that the writers' articles are (mostly) free of mistakes.
Design Editor: Isla Rice - organizes the webpage and gets everything viewable on computers and phones, an ongoing and constant state of updating and change.
Writers & Marketers: Agya Regmi, Gabriel Sprouse, Gia Killilea, Himani Basnet, Isabella Ross, Jhalak Ghimire, Kaleb Hawkins, Karuna Ghaley, Kaydence Scott, Madison Lantz, Noah Sevenoff, Pierce Lott, Pragyan Humagai, and Zaiden Stuller - this group does everything else: writing the stories, taking pictures, and helping spread the word about this new endeavor to fellow students.
Faculty: Mr. Alexander, WMHS English teacher.
Our Warrior Press staff
The Publishing Process
Getting the page coded and published is a chore. Fortunately, one of our students, Isla Rice, took Mrs. Gordon's computer coding course and has been a boon of knowledge! The rest we are still figuring out as we go!
Submission and Review
Our editor (Katie) reads every article after it has been graded by Mr. Alexander. She decides which articles should be at the top of the page based on what we believe is most newsworthy and what is most interesting to our audience of WMHS students.
After she has her top articles selected, it is up to Isla to get them online as soon as they become relevant.
The writers are constantly working on new articles - and hopefully catching what is most important and top of mind to our audience.
The Future of Warrior Press
Looking ahead, Warrior Press is excited about the possibilities. The team is committed to expanding its coverage and looking for new opportunities. But there are challenges. Right now, Journalism is only a one semester class - so new staff will have to be trained every semester and every year. Second semester may involve just volunteers or a club to keep the paper going.
But this is a product we believe can assist every student in finding new opportunities, new experiences, and getting to know new people and cultures.
We will continue to stay curious, keep exploring, and never stop telling the stories of WMHS students!
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