Student story: A mix of newspaper formats represented at camp

By Malory White/Advanced Writing

As about 50 students came together for the Flint Hills Publications Workshop, they brought different publication styles.
 
Out of the 13 schools that attended the workshop, three print a news magazine and nine print a traditional newspaper. One school, Central High School in St. Joseph, Mo., will publish online only for the first time this year after printing in a traditional format.
 
“I think students are more likely to look at it if it’s in their hands rather than online,” Central student Miranda Poulson said.
 
Among the campers are those all for the traditional to fans of news magazines and everything in between.
 
“I would rather do a news magazine,” junior Sarah Allen said. “For now, I wouldn’t want to go the traditional news side, but I do appreciate how traditional a newspaper is.”
 
At Notre Dame de Sion, where Allen attends, the newspaper is printed in a news magazine format. Meanwhile, junior Autumn Short attends McPherson High School, which prints a traditional newspaper.
 
“I like that it looks professional, but we can still incorporate designs and infographics,” Allen said. “I wish that it was all in color because in some issues, for us, it’s all black and white.”
 
Mill Valley High School senior Jillian Mullin said schools that have news magazines risk having a design style that could step on the toes of yearbook staffs.
 
“I would prefer a traditional newspaper because there’s certain elements they stick to otherwise they would start trickling into yearbook format,” Mullin said. “I wouldn’t hate it, but I feel like they would get ideas from yearbook. We have mutual respect because we are different.”