Journalism students get Campion stories published

One of our goals in Journalism and Communication class was realized this last week when two of our students’ stories were published in the local newspaper, the Loveland Reporter-Herald.  Ashley Herber’s article about the diversity of Campion’s soccer team and Megan Michalenko’s article about HMS Richard’s students cleaning up trash in downtown Loveland were both in the Friday, November 8 issue. 
 
“I was so excited that my article was published!” exclaimed Herber. “I actually want to be an author one day, so I felt like this was one step towards that goal.”
 
Each week our students’ stories are not only published in This Week at Campion, but also picked up by the Rocky Mountain Conference newsletter, News Nuggets.  From there, a Campion article is usually selected to be a part of the monthly Union magazine, Outlook.  Previously, we had not been sending regular press-releases to our local newspaper, but this year we are starting to change that. 
 
In addition to the academy news, Michalenko has been dedicated to writing a story covering events at HMS Richards each month for our church newsletter.  “I work at HMS, so I get to see a lot of the events that I get to write about. I love that I get to help HMS be able to reach out more to the community with what I write,” she commented.
 
Having a small but dedicated Journalism and Communication class has really amped up our ability to share the positive stories that are happening at Campion Academy.  Those who have been dedicated readers of our weekly e-newsletter may have noticed that the student team has recreated our format, increased our feature articles, and added more graphic ads for our upcoming events. 
 
The class has featured a variety of guest speakers who are professionals in the communication field.  We started locally with Ardis Stenbakken, communication director at the Campion Church, and Darcy Force, Campion’s Director of Development and Alumni.  We are reaching out more into the community and have had Erik Stenbakken, professional photographer, and will have Jean Boonstra, Executive Producer of Discovery Mountain, and Carina Julig, reporter at the Loveland Reporter-Herald, joining our class this semester. 
 
The guest speakers and students in the class have certainly added some fresh ideas and creativity as we seek to improve our communication department, and it has been a pleasure to watch their skills continually develop. 
 
Jill Harlow, Journalism & Communication teacher