Student story-Pool or school?

By Lynn LeCluyse

A curtain of clouds drapes the broad sky above the stone Kansas State University buildings. A peaceful breeze sweeps through the streets as high school students hurry from across the street and shuffle inside for classes.

It’s a July morning, the perfect weather for hanging out poolside. But the work must continue for the students at the Flint Hills Publication Workshop.

For these aspiring journalists, talk of ledes, editing tips and page designs edge out poolside dreams. Each person has different motivations for sacrificing valuable summer days, but these incentives all benefit one thing: student publications.

“This camp will get the staff excited,” senior Brianna Searles, from Manhattan High School, said. “That will help us encourage the student body to read the paper.”

For publication staffers passionate about what they do, giving up a small chunk of summer only seems natural.

“Our paper needed a redesign, so we’re here in order start the year off right,” Jordan Priddle, a senior at Manhattan High School, said. “I hope to leave with new layout ideas and writing techniques.”

But journalistic tips and tricks aren’t the only thing the K-State campers are leaving with. Irreplaceable memories and acquaintances will embed the minds of participants long after the awards have been distributed and the campers have diverged in different directions away from the quaint Manhattan college campus.

“The most memorable experience I’ve had a camp would definitely have to be the great race,” Danielle Valliere, a senior at Kapaun Mt. Carmel High School said. “Our instructor, Barbara Hollingsworth, had all the girls run down the hallway to determine our class queen.”

In the end, the consensus seems to be that summer freetime can wait — the publications come first.

“I came to this camp because my publication means a great deal to me,” said Nikki Koppers, a junior at Notre Dame de Sion High School. “My fellow staff members and I are more than willing to give up a small portion of our summer for the benefit of our publication. It’s turned out to be a really fun week.”

Lynn LeCluyse is a senior at Notre Dame de Sion and a student in the advanced writing class at the Flint Hills Publication Workshop.