HNS students learning about Journalism
HARTINGTON — A trio of Hartington-Newcastle students is working to inform area residents.
Teresa O’Brien is teaching the newly revived journalism class at the school. The class was last offered at the school in 2008. It was previously taught by current HNS Supt. A.J. Johnson.
Johnson said the class is a unique opportunity for students, as they get to learn and practice journalism while writing for the Cedar County News.
“[Journalism is] necessary to a free society,” Johnson said. Because of the importance of writing and journalism, he hopes to see the class grow.
Cedar County News publishers Rob Dump and Peggy Year are happy to see the program has been revived.
“We are thrilled to be working with the high school students in Hartington again,” co-publisher Peggy Year said, noting the News helped launch student newspapers at Hartington Public, Cedar Catholic and Wynot high schools in 2006. “We’ve always believed the best way to get young people involved in the community and in our industry is with a hands-on approach like this.”
Three students currently take the class: seniors Autumn Sandoval and Karicia Montemayor, and sophomore Anden Wieseler. Johnson thinks the collaboration with the Cedar County News will incentivize more students to take the class.
O’Brien agreed with the Superintendent’s assessment.
“I look forward to seeing how Journalism develops at HNS, as well as the partnership between the class and the Cedar County News,” O’Brien said.
O’Brien taught journalism in Crofton for four years. Her Crofton students started out by having their articles published in the local newspaper. They later branched out to other forms of news, such as news broadcasting.
O’Brien graduated from Hartington High School in 2007. She attended college at the University of Nebraska-Kearney, majoring in English and Speech Communication Education.
She has always valued the importance of good journalism.
“Journalism teaches necessary skills like writing informatively and clear communication. I also like it because it’s different from traditional classes. The class is run more like a business. Classmates end up more like co-workers in the end,” O’Brien said.
The students in the class will not only be writing news articles. The class also teaches students critical 21st-century skills like media literacy and online fact-checking, as well as fostering creativity in the form of a class-made website, O’Brien said.
Montemayor said she sees the class as a real opportunity.
“I’m most excited about contributing to the community and having our voices heard,” Montemayor said. “We can do our own investigations; we can write our own articles.”
In the future, Johnson also hopes to see the class add more components to newswriting, like a digital school newspaper or news broadcast, which he thinks would be even more engaging for the students.
Cedar County News co-publisher Rob Dump said these students are already showing a lot of potential.
“There is a lot of talent in our schools,” Dump said. “Hopefully, this project will help bring some of that talent out so more people can see it.”
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