Madi Paluczak

Johnston and Goodman work on completing their spreads for yearbook before the deadline. “I think yearbook is the hardest only because there’s very strict deadlines. We have to submit pages to get it printed,” Johnston said. “It’s not like you can make up late work because pages have to be submitted and there’s a lot that goes into each page.” Although yearbook may be the hardest, Johnston and Goodman both agree that it was their favorite class of the three journalism courses.

At OHS, there are three different journalism classes you can choose from: yearbook, broadcast and newspaper. Many students only choose to take one or two in their four years if any, but Alyssa Johnston (12) and Claire Goodman (11) decided to take on all three. This has not been done in the time that Christina Manolis has been the OHS journalism adviser, which she refers to as the “trifecta.”

“Well, I love anything journalism. I initially started out with yearbook in middle school and my sophomore year, and then I joined broadcast because it was more hands-on and just a different type of journalism,” Johnston said. “My senior year I joined newspaper because I wanted to try to learn more skills with writing aspects.”

Johnston and Goodman also use these three classes to assist them in deciding what they’d like to pursue for their future in journalism.

“I want to go to Mizzou for journalism. I don’t know which one I’d do because I still love all three and I literally cannot pick which one I want,” Goodman said. “I kind of want to focus on documentaries, but I’d be okay doing anything print as well.”

Although their love for journalism can fuel the motivation for taking part in each of these classes, there are still some struggles to being involved in yearbook, broadcast and newspaper.

“It’s a little difficult, especially being an editor in yearbook — that’s a lot of work — and then being in the other two it’s hard to figure out what stories I wanna do, because I try and pick a different one (story idea) in each [class] so I’m not repeating the same stuff…” Goodman said.

While each class has its own struggles with what must be completed, there is one class Goodman and Johnston believe is harder than the others.

“I think yearbook is the hardest only because there’s very strict deadlines,” Johnston said. “We have to submit pages to get it printed, and it’s not like you can make up late work because pages have to be submitted and there’s a lot that goes into each page.”

Besides the hardships that these journalism classes may entail, there are also many positives to being involved. 

“The best part of being in all three journalism programs is learning all the different types of journalism because there’s so many different routes you can go with it,” Johnston said. “There’s a lot of writing involved in all three, but also photography is really fun for me. Honestly, the people that you can get involved with within these programs is one of the best parts.”

For both Johnston and Goodman, connecting with the student community at OHS and doing something you love with journalism is important, but so is improving yourself and learning new things.

“I’ve gained a lot of life skills [through journalism]. I’ve gotten a lot better at talking to people, and I’ve come out of my shell a lot more,” Goodman said, “and I’m doing a little better now with meeting deadlines and doing my work and just those kinds of skills…” 

Overall, there will be challenges and benefits to taking all three journalism classes, and even if a student decides to only take one, they could leave the class with new abilities and even new friends.

“If you’re joining journalism, I think you should have fun with it and just you know take your time,” Johnston said. “But if you are in all three, you really need to learn time management, and patience is a big one, too.”