Big smile!
On Mar 25, 2011, at 11:11 PM, Kristin Strubhart wrote:
Today was a good day. And I feel the need to share with my fellow journalism teachers because you all will truly understand.
My executive producer for our broadcast program has taken it upon himself to cover what he feels is the most pressing issue for students at our school - budget cuts & increase in student fees. Yesterday, he decided to attend the school board meeting. It was a big meeting because they voted on the deficit reduction plan. It's pretty controversial. Within an hour of the meeting, he and senior staff had a story on our website, and a video recap for the next day's broadcast. Yep. Those are MY kids. Their story - which is still a work in progress - contained more information than our local paper, was accurate, and was up on our website about 30 minutes sooner. The great thing was soon after the budget was approved, our twitter followers, facebook fans, and subscribers were all engaged in a dialogue and using our site to get their news. It was the first time that we've reported meaningful "breaking news."
The support staff learned from our site that their paychecks for next year are being frozen. Apparently, no one had informed them of the new budget plans. Our superintendent has been so flooded with questions that she's holding an informational meeting this Monday.
We just launched our site in January, so we've been trying to get the word out to people and build an audience. Needless to say, we've had a big jump in traffic and followers.
It's just been really wonderful to see my staff take ownership and pride in their work, and see their work impact our school community. And I get to sit back and smile.
Cheers for scholastic journalism,
Kristin Strubhart
Broadcast Coordinator
O'Fallon Township High School
O'Fallon, IL. 62269
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