Journalism is an elective class students can take starting their sophomore year at Rock Island High School. Journalism is a class full of learning, creating, and even socializing. Students in Journalism work on many different aspects of the yearbook, as well as the Crimson Crier newspaper, they work on photo essays, articles, and more.
The advisor of Journalism, Sarah Vens, has been teaching the class for 15 years, and has some good insight into the class and this year. Vens tells about the tentative timeline of the class each year, stating, “Journalism has roughly the same timeline every year. We start the first quarter learning the skills necessary for Journalism. Second and third quarter, we solely focus on the yearbook. Fourth quarter, we create a multimedia project. I think we spend most of our time collaborating, creating, and working to tell Rocky’s stories.” Although the timeline stays about the same year to year, the students also have to adapt to anything that could happen with the sports or clubs they are working with.
Vens never thought she would be helping create the yearbook. She stated, “It definitely wasn’t a class I thought I’d be teaching when I started, but it has grown to be my favorite class to teach.” Journalism is such a fun, hard working class that leaves a mark every single year, that quickly became her favorite.
Similarly, Cheyeane Stanley, Head Editor of the Journalism class has taken the class for two years, and loves what she does, stating, “I love being head editor, getting to really leave my mark on the book, and help others do the same. As head editor, I help to lead the program with everything from brainstorming ideas, to helping attain what’s needed for pages – especially with newer Journalism students.”
Cheyeane isn’t alone in her role, as there are twenty other editors who help to get the yearbook done efficiently. Vens states, “They look over every page before I see it. They make sure pages are ready to go to advisors and be sent in. They have to work hard, stay on top of their work, and understand the vision of the book, so I can trust them to make the changes they need to.” Editors have big shoes to fill, but Vens believes they make it work every time.
Every year, the yearbook has a theme. This year’s theme is “Our Way”, which Vens describes as telling the Rock’s stories in the way that the students know them, and telling how Rocks carry themselves. Cheyeane describes it as how each group/club/sport lives at Rocky, and how they portray themselves and their team. The theme is always carried throughout the book in different ways. “The theme is usually carried through headlines, fonts, colors, and a theme mod. The theme is also very evident in our divider pages,” states Cheyeane, which helps the students who didn’t work on the yearbook know what the theme is, and how it correlates to Rocky. Cheyeane explains, “I really do like the theme. I’m excited to have it for my senior year. It’s a cool way to hear from every group,” which is extremely understandable, getting perspectives from many different people, and including that in the yearbook helps others understand how those students live their lives, and how they portray themselves.
Over the years, the class has grown tremendously. The 2023-24 school year was the first year after the COVID-19 pandemic where the class had the numbers to be split into two different periods. Cheyeane comments, “Compared to last year, we now have like double the kids.” This is a huge step for the Journalism class, as it only started with a handful of kids when Vens took over. The whole yearbook is due in March, and Vens believes it will be done on time, stating, “So far, we have hit every deadline this year. I think this year’s group is very on top of it. They work hard, and understand the urgency with the yearbook, and are always ready to help and adapt.” The class has never missed a final deadline to turn in the whole book, and she plans to continue that streak further on.
It is no secret that Journalism is a fun, creative, and challenging course to take, but Vens and Cheyeane both think it is worth it. Balancing work from the class with other work in life can be difficult, but Cheyeane makes it known that it can work, explaining, “Balancing Journalism with my other classes, track every day, my job, my family, personal life, and my mental/physical wellbeing is honestly a lot, but it’s all about time management and planning ahead of time.” She knows anyone can make it work, they just have to be willing to. Cheyeane says she would recommend anyone for this class because she loves it, “I one-hundred percent recommend Journalism to students with free time. There are so many different aspects people could gain from picture taking, writing, organizing, planning, socializing, time management, and just being more involved in the Rocky community,” she explains.
Both Cheyeane and Vens are excited to see the final product of the yearbook this Spring and are extremely excited to see the new plexiglass cover that the group chose. Vens states, “I am super excited to see the cover. I think this is one of the best books we have done. ” The entire class is ready to see the final product and excited at that.
