Kaelin Rising
Newtown High School offers many courses that stray from the norm of a traditional Common Core curriculum. Each month, The Hawkeye will highlight one of these classes in an article, shedding light on what makes these classes important and engaging. This month, the spotlight will be on NHS’s own journalism class.
The Hawkeye has existed for at least thirty years, and in 1997 when NHS changed their mascot from the Indians to the Nighthawks, the paper changed names from Smoke Signals to The Hawkeye. Over the course of this time the school newspaper has received several awards for writing and print quality, and students who spent time in the program have a tendency to reminisce on the experience throughout their lives.
“The class benefited me a lot, obviously with my writing, but the freedom to choose what we wrote about gave me an opportunity to enjoy it even more and find something I was extremely passionate about. On top of that in school now I feel I was definitely at an advantage in a majority of my classes because of what we covered beyond making the paper,” NHS graduate Brendan Murray said.
Murray, who graduated in 2021, found a passion for making and writing about food. His experience working at and reviewing countless restaurants in town made him well rounded in his taste for food and writing.
The program is one of only a handful at the high school that is a full year program that can be taken freshman through senior year, and the bond that is created between the students and program as a whole is one that is hard to attain in a half year or even a year long course. Students are constantly working to collaborate with one another and in order to complete the task of a monthly paper, a lot of teamwork is necessary.
Throughout the month, articles are written by each student, edited by classmates, and divided into categories. These articles are organized by category, assigned a page, and the process of layout begins. Using an Adobe program called InDesign, each page is tediously mapped out and pieced together by students.
"More than any other class, journalism taught me there was value in getting work done and holding yourself to a higher standard,” 2021 NHS graduate Willem Doherty said.
The Hawkeye staff are always encouraged to find a niche that they love to write about, like Murray’s culinary explorations or Doherty’s excitement over foreign affairs. The true push of the class though is the need to be well rounded. Being able to write about sports, politics, fashion, or a local news story is what the experience of the class is about. The students of this class shape the story of the school paper, they shape the perspective.
NHS English teacher Marc Kenney has been the advisor of the program for the past 12 years, and has seen countless students through the class. His experience with The Hawkeye is a change from the pace of his typical English classes.
“The other great thing for me is the close knit relationship I am able to forge with students in this room that is life-long, it’s almost a friendship. I’m lucky to have that in this classroom,” Kenney said.
Prior to his teaching career, Kenney worked as a sports writer for the Waterbury Republican, which is where he got his experience in journalism. When asked what he felt was the most important aspect of the program, he described the teamwork necessary to complete the monthly tasks of writing, editing, uploading, and laying out each article.
Through all of the teamwork, the program, just like any other, relies on new students to show up and give the class their all. Underclassman enrollment has seen a decrease since the pandemic, and the inability of Kenney and his students to visit the middle school with the NHS Guidance Department in early spring due to Covid restrictions has caused the program to lose some traction. A change to graduation requirements has made it harder for underclassmen to take the class
“There was a time when we had two full classes of 25 students, so we are down a bit. It has made producing a monthly newspaper more challenging, especially given the need to try to regularly update the website,” Kenney said. “Overall, I feel like once we resume our recruitment process our students will serve as great ambassadors for what we offer.”