Thinking About Journalism for an Elective Class? Here Is the Low Down!

WHS Lions Pride Original Story:

by Eikaiva Boyer from Walkersville High School Lion’s Pride

Second semester is approaching fast, and soon it will be time to pick next year’s classes.

You have lots of class choices when it comes to attending Walkersville High, so you can choose classes that are fun as well as good to put on your college application and high school transcript. There is a class at Walkersville that satisfies both of those for you, and it is called (*jazzhands*)…Journalism. This class is taught by Eric Reickel, who is by far the BEST. ENGLISH. TEACHER. EVER.

The course teaches you the style of writing a journalism article, and how to become a better writer in general. You are to write one article a week at the least, and do your job as part of the journalism staff. Your job can differ depending on what you sign up for and/or what you’re actually chosen for.

Every single person has a specific role of what they are in charge of, whether it be an editor, copy editor, a feature editor like me, or something else. The course heavily relies on the dependability of your other classmates. The entire class works together to create the best articles in the county with absolutely no grammar mistakes!

I believe the best part about Journalism is that you can write about anything you are interested in. On some occasions, an article is given to you to write within a certain time constraint, like in that specific week, and/or day. But if you love writing as much as I do, then you’ll raise your hand for those “do in a day” articles, and sometimes you will have to stay into third lunch to finish up. For some, it may stress them out which is totally okay! Sometimes you do have to take one for the team though.

All journalism classes have the course third period, which means you will eat with one lunch, so you have CTC students, first lunch, and other lunch shifts to interview people to get quotes for your upcoming fabulous article!

There is no real structure/schedule for an everyday class in journalism. The period starts with Reickel taking attendance, and then giving out new article ideas, like a story about the Academic team, or the blood drive. Someone (hopefully) will want to take the story and write the heck out of that topic!

Anyways, after the first five minutes of class, you are on your own. You choose to get a computer, edit the articles that were sent to you on Google drive, or start writing right away! You could also take your notebook, pen, and journalism badge to sign out of the classroom and go get quotes for that article you were working really hard on yesterday evening. Or you could just sit around and talk. Just kidding! That doesn’t happen!

Moving right along, the class goes by and you keep working hard on your article. Hallelujah, you finished! You can now send it in to your editors. Reickel gives you a high five that you can’t seem to reach because he’s so tall. Once he has seen the article you move on to the next article; sadly. It’s kind of like breaking up with your boyfriend in a way, if you know what I mean. (Writers will definitely understand)

Here comes the fun part for some –for me; every day is so fun because I’m doing what I love, writing. But anyways, journalism has a special thing called Fun Friday. We have lots of fun, and do fun things because it is a Friday and we’re in journalism. Like you’d actually think I’d tell you what we do on Friday. You’re just too funny. Take the course to find out!

Then Friday class ends with Reickel giving you a self worth speech, and how not to do something that will make you regret it in the next nine months.

Reickel explains why you should take Journalism, and the special perks of it. “Journalism is an elective, but an academic elective. It’s the kind of class that looks good on your high school transcript. If you are an outgoing person who likes talking to people and finding out their stories, this class is for you.”

He then states the special perks of the class. “Unlike any other class, journalism is student run, with student leaders. You get to choose what you want to write about, go on a fun field trip, and participate in fun Fridays.”

Editor-In-Chief senior Hanna Houck says she has been in Journalism for two years. “Last year I wasn’t an outgoing person, and it’s definitely helped me. Especially because your stories require quotes, so you have to go out and talk to people. Journalism helped me grow out of my shy personality a little more. I’ve always liked writing, and then you’re put into a class of people who like writing so you all share the same interest. Plus, I really like current events and that’s uncommon amongst teenagers nowadays. It’s really a fun, laid back class, and it’s all based on the effort you give.”

Fellow Feature Editor sophomore Susanna Chen says, “Unlike most conventional classes, journalism allows you to have more freedom in the choices you make in class involving work and learning. You’re able to choose what topic to write about, which gives you an opportunity to have a more in depth understanding of events in school that you would otherwise not have as much knowledge of.” Chen adds that Reickel is a really cool person. Besides, no one can teach journalism like Reickel can.