Clarkston High School is a small community within itself, one that would seemingly require a town crier to spread the news. With the rise of the internet, people can find national headlines anywhere, but have difficulty knowing what is going on rightaround the corner.
Issues affecting the school do not sweep through the halls by word-of-mouth. They go on the record at the school’s newspaper, Paw Prints.
Paw Prints is now in its second year of production under the guidance of teacher Mike Comos. The paper replaced Filtered Noise, a semi-annual magazine-like publication.
Like most high school papers, CHS students work on their stories as part of a class, which earns them credit for language arts. Unlike most classes, students have to apply for spots, like they would a job at a newspaper. Comos said he receives more applications than open spots and is debating adding interviews to the process of selecting staff.
Comos said he hopes to print six issues of Paw Prints throughout the school year, with a new issue coming out every five or six weeks, but that number could change if circumstances hold up production.
Though the large gap between print dates prevents the paper from covering ‘breaking news,? Comos said he likes to see the students take an event or issue and write feature stories on the effect on the study body.
‘We’re much more feature-oriented… a lot of human interest, personality stories, organizations,? he explained.
A quick glance through the 12-page paper shows stories on the war in Iraq, gas prices, upcoming theater productions, restaurant reviews and sports.
Paw Prints also showcases the many opinions from the student body, with several polls and editorials in every issue. Though most are not controversial, Comos said there were complaints from people when the paper covered the topic of Intelligent Design.
‘We’ve had some individuals come up and complain, but we’ve never been an outcry,? Comos said.
Steve Puroll, one of the staff writers, penned the argument against teaching ID in public schools for the paper. He said that was the only editorial he received negative feedback about.
‘Not from a wide audience, but on a personal level, people who were my friends, said they didn’t appreciate what I had put down,? Puroll said.
The stir was not just caused by Puroll’s argument, but because the piece was so well written and presented, according to Kate Thomas, senior and current Editor-in-Chief of the paper.
Thomas, 17, is in her third year of the journalism class and said one of the challenges with the school paper is keeping students interested.
‘We try to make it interesting, but it’s tough to cover stuff that kids want to read without having us being allowed to write about it,? Thomas said. ‘They censor us a lot.?
Thomas said the staff works to put out a paper than does not offend other students.
‘We always stay to the side of being careful rather than risking anything,? Thomas said.
With the exception of printing, which is handled by a company in Alabama, the 19 students who create Paw Prints do everything from writing to selling advertisements.
‘We’re the only high school in town, so they should advertise with us and most businesses and pretty good about it,? Comos said. ‘Financially, we’re okay. We survive because we can get enough advertising to supplement it and that allows us to give it out free to students because we want to get it out there as much as possible.?
Comos noted that both the newspaper and yearbook typically attract more female students than males, with this year being no exception. Currently, the newspaper’s female to male ratio is 17:2, while the yearbook’s ratio stands at 29:1.
‘If (guys) knew the ratio, they would probably be more interested in it,? Comos joked.
Looking to the future, Comos said he would like to balance his time better between the yearbook and newspaper. Currently, Comos said the yearbook takes precedent but that could change very soon.