A momentary silence instilled with a mixture of concentration and excitement infuses each classroom as students flip through the most current edition of the newspaper. From page to page, photo to photo, and line to line, the newspaper captivates the interest of the student body. Brimmed with anything GHS, The Spyglass is a student driven newspaper.

 The production of The Spyglass erupts between endless mouthfuls of pizza and meticulous page formatting shadowed by a consistent reminder from Mrs. Howard of the approaching deadline. The quarterly newspaper has existed as Galena High School tradition for two decades.

Completing a 37 year record of teaching, Galena High School’s Linda Howard has kept print media relevant in a world dominated by digital screens. Within the first few years of teaching, Howard framed a lasting journalism program.

“When I first came in, we were producing a community newsletter. In 1989, I started the school newspaper. I wanted students to have fun with writing,” said Howard.  

Today in our fast paced digital world, traditional standards such as books and newspapers struggle to compete with society’s upgraded technology medium. In response, the Spyglass has added an online newspaper, Twitter, and Facebook page.

However, the movement to online newspaper unintentionally hurts journalism education within school systems. Knowledge of basic formatting and newspaper design is absent with the existence of preset online templates.

 And in terms of future application in a journalism career, experience with newspaper design programs can be advantageous. But as the relevancy of online media increases, its takeover shadows old-fashioned principle. However, print simply takes on another form with online media as many of the same articles featured in newspapers are identical to the online paper. In Galena High School, we see more people opening the school newspaper rather than opening the internet to check out the online paper.

While we publish on a smaller scale, the GHS newspaper successfully competes to entertain the student body and community and the current program has earned journalistic success and emphasized the significance of print media in the 21st century.

“Having a small school newspaper offers a unique opportunity for people to dabble in all aspects of journalism; no one is stuck to just one section,” said newspaper editor-in-chief, Luc Pham.

The Spyglass has covered school-related issues such as the recent hot-sparked election, past school referendums, and other relevant concerns. Newspapers offer an outlet for what not necessarily wants to be heard, but what journalists believe needs to be heard as well. A variety of viewpoints are spread throughout the pages of the newspaper.

The incorporation of newspapers within schools alots individual responsibility to student journalists as they express the word of students and offer news, features and opinions about local events.

“Students partake in the opportunity to not only take an active role in the transfer of information around the school and community, but to also inform the public about newspapers,” said Pham.