As course selection draws near, students are left looking at the form contemplating the best classes that will fulfill their credits and engage their  interests. Fortunately, students have lots of freedom to explore, but it can make courses difficult to choose between. If you’re looking for a course that allows you the freedom to write, interview and review topics of various categories, than joining the Wolfpack newspaper staff is the best selection for you.

As a first year reporter, I can confidently say that newspaper was not what I expected at all, in the coolest and most fun way possible.. The class teaches you how to write and think like a journalist as well as apply those skills to create an unbiased and factual article, which can include feature, opinion, personality profiles and more. A reporter also gets to freely choose articles, which is something that I originally did not  think was an option, and write about topics that interest you or topics that you feel the school would benefit from reading about. Newspaper also teaches how to interview people for articles and gather useful information that can give writing more depth and factuality.

My whole experience has been very positive; being surrounded by very helpful staff members and having the choice to write what I would like with the freedom to choose my deadline. I have always been fond of journalism, and this course helped me visualize what it would be like to actually become a journalist. Being on staff also improved my social skills, which allowed for me to gain   a better understanding of how to effectively gather information from people as well as sympathize with people I spoke with. 

In terms of school commitments, Newspaper is not just an “in-school” course, which I learned very quickly. Even if you’re not in school or if you’re absent, articles still need to be written and submitted on the day you chose. That also includes going to after school events to take photos for events called “overtimes.” The process of attending school events is really fun, and you just need to go to two per cycle, making it very flexible. Not only does this course focus on writing and interviewing people, but you also get the opportunity to work with cameras and edit photos with Photoshop and InDesign.

I would highly recommend this course, not only because of the writing knowledge and personal interest, but because I learned more about how life works. I learned many  life lessons, such as meeting deadlines, information gathering and working with others. Newspaper is an amazing course, and I could not recommend it further.