Tyrone Area High School, Altoona Area High School and Bellwood-Antis High School offer journalism and broadcast classes for students to contribute to their newspapers.

Tyrone Area Eagle Eye

Tyrone Area’s journalism course is currently the most requested elective in the district, with more than 100 students on the waitlist, according to social studies and journalism teacher Todd Cammarata.

Tyrone Area students work on stories set for future publication in the student newspaper, The Eagle Eye. Mirror photo by Colette Costlow

The student newspaper got its start about 1917, he said, making the publication more than 100 years old. But its website didn’t launch until 2013.

At the time, editions were photocopied and only passed around to students and staff.

When Cammarata took over the journalism program in 2013, he wanted to reach the community more by making the publication available online. He found Student Newspapers Online and began to publish digital student stories.

He said the publication has received a lot of community support, as their website brought in more than 191,000 page views in the last 30 days.

“They’re not just doing it for a grade,” he said. “They’re doing it for other people to see and other people to read.”

BA Blueprint advisor Kerry Naylor shuffles through a few newspaper awards inside the journalism classroom. Mirror photo by Colette Costlow

While only some high school student journalists study communications at the collegiate level, he said they still learn how to communicate and tell stories, which is applicable in any field.

“I think that anyone can learn something from journalism,” he said.

Recently graduated news editor Carlie Nowlin is one of these students who both write and review articles, checking for consistency and grammar rules before they get to the editors-in-chief.

She got her journalism start as one of Pennsylvania’s FFA reporters, one of three in the state and 250 in the nation. She’s entering Penn State Altoona’s communications program this fall.

“I love that we can learn about something in our high school and then take that later on, and will make us more creative and better writers for whenever we get to go out into the real world and have that job,” she said.

Altoona Area High School’s Mountain Echo editor-in-chief Madison Aboud, shows the newspaper’s website inside the journalism classroom. Mirror photo by Colette Costlow

Their program’s podcast room is adjacent to the newsroom, decked out with green screens, studio lights and a desk where their podcasts are filmed.

Their sports podcast, “TSPN,” took first in the best podcast category in the regional Pennsylvania School Press Association competition last fall.

“It felt good just having more episodes of TSPN get posted and winning the PSPA,” senior podcast host Brayden Parsons said.

Junior Elayna Hess said she enjoyed communicating with new people during her time as the podcast producer, as well as incorporating local voices.

The Mountain Echo/MLTV

Staff members of Altoona Area High School's Mountain Echo student newspaper display award certificates for their work. Courtesy photo

Journalism teacher Wanda Vanish emphasizes that Altoona Area’s student newspaper, the Mountain Echo, should be student-run.

She has a sign hung on her classroom wall stating that her role as adviser is not to choose content, but to give advice.

“Training from the beginning is essential,” she said, mentioning that journalism principles guide student journalists through an introduction to publications course before they can be on the newspaper staff.

Not many students take up journalism after high school graduation, she said, but some go into education, graphic design, public relations and photography.

However, she said journalism’s realness is one reason why students choose to sit in her classroom and write stories.

“Kids are looking for things that have validity, that they can say, ‘I’m doing this,'” she said.

One of those students, Madison Aboud, just finished her run as Mountain Echo editor-in-chief, as she’s majoring in English and minoring in communications at Penn State Altoona this fall.

“I actually dreamed of being editor for all four years of high school, so it was a big goal of mine,” she said.

During her tenure, the team bond strengthened within the newsroom, the paper was recognized for multiple awards and they published articles daily. She said the journalism classes prepared her for the professional world in every way possible.

“I can’t think of a better way to have been prepared than this class,” she said.

On the other side of the school lies Mountain Lion TV’s classroom, run by broadcasting teacher Mike Baker.

AASD’s broadcasting program records school announcements, live sporting events and other projects at the request of the district and community organizations, Baker said.

By being a part of MLTV, Baker said his students learn to communicate differently, different than other English or writing classes where they have to create essays.

“I think those communication skills are key to lifelong success, whether they’re going to college and majoring or minoring in broadcast or just into the workforce, we have to be able to communicate with one another,” he said.

The BA Blueprint

The BA Blueprint at Bellwood-Antis High School was originally named “The Highlight,” according to journalism and English teacher Kerry Naylor.

A few years before the newspaper launched online in 2014, Naylor asked his students about a new name for the newspaper. Former student Tabby Taylor pitched “The BA Blueprint,” alluding to the school’s colors, being the blueprint for everyone else and having a pulse on the community.

The school also offers journalism classes, where 18 to 20 students write for the newspaper, take photographs, record podcasts or manage their website.

Naylor said students in the program begin to worry about the work they publish rather than grades as the semester ends.

“Most of the kids are doing it because they know they’re doing a service, they know people want to see it and they have pride in their own work,” he said.

Naylor said he worked with an upperclassman on next year’s social media layout.

“I do think you need to reach out to people a lot more through social media these days,” he said, mentioning that the newspaper also has an Instagram, Facebook and TikTok account.

Recently graduated editor Kevin Stiver said about 99% of his peers are on some kind of social media platform, so it’s an effective way to interact with the paper.

The newspaper would post interactive questions about trending topics, such as football players in the fall and track players in the spring.

“Once you get out there, I believe it leads others to investigate more and read our stories more,” he said, mentioning that media platforms are a huge way to market the newspaper.

Stiver plans on attending Saint Francis University in the fall to major in history and political science.

He said he feels better prepared to take on that field through the thorough research he conducted as a student journalist.

With high school behind him, Stiver, like other graduating student journalists, believes his courses helped him develop into a stronger storyteller, regardless of his future occupation.

“I think I learned how to do that pretty well by being involved in the newspaper,” he said.

Mirror Staff Writer Colette Costlow is at 814-946-7414.