An Origins Story
What first started as an idea is now real. Last year I was given a document with all the possible classes to enroll for 2018-2019. I knew the process already. Try to enroll in as many AP’s as I possibly could and take the courses that offered missing credits to graduate. Art, pe, computer science, and music were some of the few classes I was accustomed to see. Though it never occured to me to see those 9 letters as a possible choice which read “Newspaper”. I stopped midway to go back and reread that word. Newspaper. It still sounded unbelievable. I decided to give it a try and see how it would go. Honestly, I thought the class would be easy and a study hall most of the time. That never happened. Starting from the first day of school we have worked diligently and continuously to create the school newspaper. The Cougar Press. What started with an idea, is now real.
It all started on a single paper. The class was divided into different groups and tasked with coming up with all the elements that it would take to create a school newspaper. Things like staffing needs, technical requirements, marketing plans and project management. After the groups came up with the main ideas, we were divided into different areas to work throughout the whole year. Some of these include the editors, photographers, designers, marketing members, and of course the supervisors, who did their best to help each section get their assignments completed. Every person was in charge of turning in editorials every week to fill in the newspaper with intriguing articles. These articles fall under a variety of sections to choose from such as sports, food, advice, events, comics, humor, music, arts and more.
Thrilled with the belief that the newspaper was now a working dream, class members started working on possible names. It was decided to let the school decide on the name so a poll was created and sent out and in the end The Cougar Press became the voice of the students at ACS.
Commitment from the group was something that never lacked. Every person on each team continued to work very hard in their assigned areas. The photography team took the time to attend all the events that were school related to take pictures for later use on editorials. They also kept all the people, teachers, students, and parents, updated on the Friendship Games by livestreaming each match. The editors sought to edit more than 20 articles per week. The web team did an outstanding job in building the web page from zero all the way to what it is now. The designers did impressive work in creating the logo. The marketing team kept all the school updated through social media.. Which leads us to the actual launch that took place on Wednesday January 23rd.
The launch was a total success. Mr. Carpio was given the opportunity to officially introduce the school’s newspaper to students, teachers, staff members, as well as parents. It started with a short humorous video and finished with a quick tour of the page.Waynar, Nina, and Valentina Costas gave a short explanation about the material that readers can find on The Cougar Press which includes sport, art, music, humor, interview with teachers and more.
Now that the Cougar Press is finally acknowledged by the school, we can say that having a school newspaper is no longer a dream.
