New Journalism II class starts school newspaper for first time in almost a decade

Abigail Rolf (10) and Teegan Cole (10) practice interviewing skills during introduction to journalism. Next year, a student-led newspaper will be a new course offering for WHS students. (Holland Luedtke)

Savannah Klemisch, Reporter
April 8, 2023

Starting in the 2023-24 school year, WHS students will have the opportunity to take a journalism II class that will double as a student-led school newspaper. This will be the first time for a school newspaper in almost a decade.

During course registration this year, students were pleased to see new course offerings, including journalism II. The course will be taught by Kjersten Johnson, the current yearbook and introduction to journalism teacher. Before Johnson became a teacher, she studied journalism and even worked as a journalist.

Taya Hernandez (10) practices learning AP Style, a writing guide that is specifically meant for journalism. Students in introduction to journalism learn basic journalism skills such as AP Style, interviewing and how to structure articles. (Holland Luedtke)

“So journalism II is going to be similar to yearbook in that it is a production class… Introduction to journalism is just figuring out the basics, learning how to do things, and journalism II is going to be newspaper. So we will have an online newspaper for Windsor High School called The Windsor Chronicle and it will feature student journalism,” Johnson explained.

Journalism II will be available to students who have taken introduction to journalism and are interested in continuing writing articles about current school and town events. To join, students must have taken and passed the class. Johnson also confirmed that there is likely going to be an application required, which would be similar to the current yearbook staff application.

Although journalism II and yearbook are both going to be production classes, they are still different. In yearbook, students will get to use their journalism skills as well as using a more creative and artistic side to design the yearbook and take photographs. However, journalism II will consist of mainly the writing side and videography with a little bit of photography.

Sophomore Tristyn Bruning took introduction to journalism his freshman year and is a current reporter for yearbook; he also plans on joining the staff of The Windsor Chronicle next year. “One of the things that really excites me about this new class is it’s going to be more week-to-week based journalism rather than full-year based journalism like yearbook is,” Bruning said.

Tristyn Bruning (10) celebrates after meeting a yearbook deadline. Bruning plans to be on both the yearbook and The Windsor Chronicle staff next school year. (Holland Luedtke)

Even with the prerequisite class to join yearbook and journalism II, the classes are open to anyone with an interest in these or who would like to try something new. They are highly recommended by Johnson and most people who take these courses.

“It’s a good class and it teaches you how to be sociable and talk to people. You get to put together some cool stuff… It’s just a really good experience overall,” junior and former journalism student Kaci Wagner said. “Ms. Johnson is a great teacher. I think I learned a lot from her.” Wagner intends to join The Windsor Chronicle staff next school year.

Students and staff are all looking forward to having these new class opportunities next year to try new things and grow the community.