Groups honor Spartan newspaper

An award winning staff produces the pages of the Spartan Spin, Superior High School's student newspaper.

Last year, the paper received Silver Medalist standing from the Columbia Scholastic Press Association, a national competition for high school newspapers. The staff also received a first place at the Kettle Moraine Press Association in Whitewater.

"I'm really proud of them," junior Jozie Nummi said of the awards. "A lot of people don't know how hard it is to do something like that."

For the past four years, the Spartan Spin staff has placed in competitions.

This fall the Spartan Spin's editor-in-chief, junior Libby Dumonseau, won first place at the Chippewa Valley School Press Association's Editor's Write Off in Eau Claire.

But it hasn't always been that way. Seven years ago the Spartan Spin didn't exist.

A group of students --volunteering their time -- started the newspaper six years ago as an extracurricular activity. The students worked on the newspaper after school and made photocopies to hand out to students, said Fay Hubbard, co-advisor for the newspaper.

But the students didn't know anything about producing a newspaper.

The staff's first trip to Whitewater was eye-opening. The judges' comments were like a slap in the face, said Andy Wolfe, co-advisor.

"They wrote 'this is not a newspaper,'" he said.

The criticism inspired Wolfe and Hubbard. They researched journalism and made the newspaper into a class, so they'd have time to teach the students how to produce a paper.

Wolfe and Hubbard also cut production from one issue every two weeks to one issue every six weeks.

The extra time allows for work on journalism fundamentals and gives the students time to rewrite stories and edit each other's work.

The next year's staff did better in the Kettle Morraine competition and joined the Columbia Scholastic Press Association. Students paid their own way to attend the Columbia conference in New York and learn how to make their paper better.

Students take the class as a business or literature elective. On the business side, they sell advertising, work with the printer, design pages and take photos. Literature students write and edit stories and take photos.

The newspaper has no funding, so the printing is paid for by advertising.

The staff prints 1,000 copies of each 16-page newpaper. The cost is $550 for each edition.

Most students don't know how much work the class will be until they start, said senior Ginger Juel.

"You don't know how much work goes into a paper," she said. "It's more like a job than a class."

Students take the elective for two or three years. They share their knowledge with one another and pass on what they learn, Wolfe said.

The newspaper class is not like other classes, much of the class students work independently or in groups. Wolfe and Hubbard give advice and check on students' progress.

The students brainstorm stories, edit each other's work, and design the pages, Juel said.

"You have to get your work done because it's not just your grade that's affected; it's everybody's," she said.

The class forces students to work together to produce a finished project, rather than taking a test or writing a paper on their own. It teaches students how to work on a team, Juel said.

"It prepares you for the real world," she said. "It teaches you how to be responsible. ... It teaches you how to deal with other people."

The Spartan Spin's next goal is to bump each issue up to 20 pages and print at least 1,600 copies, so each student in the school can get a copy, Hubbard said.

Anna Kurth covers education. Call her at (715) 394-4411, ext. 138 or e-mail akurth@superiortelegram.com .