Dear Readers,
On behalf of the Communications Arts Media (CAM) staff, we, Co-Editors-in-Chief Flora Farr and Rachel Setlik, are beyond excited to welcome you to our newly launched student produced news site!
Although Comm Arts was opened in 1995, it didn’t have it’s own journalism program until 2019 with the introduction of a new broadcast journalism strand advised by Carey McCarthy. Even then, we all had to use the first year to grow as new journalists by learning about all of the basic fundamentals that the job entails. Since we were still learning the basics, it wasn’t until this school year that we were prepared to start publishing our work.
However, all of this work has been easier said than done. With COVID-19 and being separated from all of our peers, we’ve had to build this new program communicating with each other virtually. The experience has really taught us how to manage our time and make the most of the apps and resources we have to reach out to one another when overcoming different obstacles. With that being said, we have still managed to grow as individuals and as a staff.
In the beginning of the year, we created a staff manual to help us keep track of expectations and regulations. Once that was completed we could focus on creating content. Our first video package was CAM Sports Editor Sergio Torres interviewing NISD’s superintendent Dr. Brian Woods at the first varsity football game of the season.
At the same time, we (Rachel and Flora), started building the official news site with WordPress. Once we figured WordPress out, we began customizing it and collaborating with Broadcast Co-Producer James Cazares to get the logo and brand name for our program on the site. As more and more announcements were produced, we learned how to best include them on the news site. We eventually started working on our staff bios and pics to ensure that each staffer’s hard work could be credited on our site. Finally in December, we sent our preliminary news site to Principal Dr. Lisa Baker to gain feedback before our official launch.
Overall, the experience of building this site has been fun and very rewarding for the both of us. It incorporates a variety of different elements that one can find in journalism, whether it be podcasts, articles, videos, or other journalistic formats. It’s our greatest hope that this platform will be a reliable and interesting source of information and entertainment in the future for all those in our wonderful community.
Thank you for being a part of this journey with us. Here’s to many more achievements to come!
Sincerely,
Flora Farr and Rachel Setlik
Your CAM News- Site Co-Editors