Publications Staff Introduces New Studio and Doors for the 2018-2019 School Year

From the beginning of this year there have been many changes occuring throughout the school. Some of these changes were for the Publications rooms, which included adding five door wraps to each of the doors and moving the photo studio to room 132 from the basement, and a brand new mural of the first amendment to the constitution.

“We got a donation from a family last year and I was trying to think of something special to do with that money,” Publications adviser Aaron Manfull said. “I got looking more into those door wraps and things and I thought that it might be something that would look really cool for the program and would look really cool for the school.”

On each of the new door wraps there is a quote about journalism that relates to one of the different staffs. The quotes depict the ideals that the publications staff hopes to deliver to the students at FHN. The design for them was created through the website logodaddy.com. These doors help to provide a clear depiction of the publication staffs for the students who pass by them in the hallway.

“I’m hoping that outside of the room it just gives more visibility and publicity for the program,” said Manfull. “Inside the room I hope the staffers who are in here find it a little more exciting to walk through the doors everyday.”

The program continues to show the school their identity in addition with an added mural of the first amendment in room 105. With the amendment protecting the right of free speech and free press, it was seemed fitting to give it its own place within the room. The quotation reflects not only desire for the room to spread media and news to the students, but also to share it in a way that holds honesty and integrity.

“I really like that the putting the wraps on the door makes the publications department a lot more visible,” said Hostetler. “It’s fantastic and I’d love to see other organizations take that on. I like to see that publications has kinda started to take possession of the space.”

With the change of the location of the photo and video studio, the staff is now able to run simply and efficiently. The room used for photos was previously located behind the engineering classroom in the school four wheeler garage. The studio has now joined the string of rooms next to the main lobby reserved for the publications staffs.

“The Publications department is more thorough-going and robust than I have ever seen before, it’s remarkable,” Head Principal Dr. Nathan Hostetler said. “It’s also really important for the school as well, because it gives student voice, it gives an opportunity for kids to tell their own story…it really has a pretty big impact on the culture as a whole.”

These are not the only, or even biggest, changes that the staff has undergone. In 2016, much like the photo and video lab, the entire publications room was moved up one floor from what is now the 026 computer lab. The move brought the media staffs into the forefront of the school and helped to usher in a new era for the school newspaper, website and yearbook. The room as well is ever changing in ideas, content, focus and interest in order to deliver news in a form that is relevant and that interests the students at FHN.

“For a few different reasons we just needed to move,” said Manfull. “We found this space upstairs on the main floor and it’s been absolutely wonderful to help the program grow and be more connected.”

The new school year offers up much for change and growth for the FHN community, and Publications is no exception to this. Despite the changes, however, the staff still hold true to its original motto by Abraham Lincoln, “whatever you are, be a good one.”

“What I hope these changes do is create a sense of pride in where we are,” said Hostetler. “When folks walk in I want them to be proud of where they are and who they are. I want kids to behave as though they are proud of the space that they’re in. The idea of taking possession of the spaces and and saying ‘no, this is FHN, and were gonna take pride in it’ is a huge deal and that’s why I hope to see, not just organizations, but individual students doing this.”