In the fall of 2022, Emily Kangal, a senior at Wallenpaupack Area High-school, approached Dr. Christopher Caruso with an idea for a school newspaper. Now, after many meetings, workshops, panels, and conversations, “Paupack Press” has finally debuted its first issue!
After an initial meeting with the district’s administration, the idea was set in motion. They first had to create a vision for their final product – Print or digital? What would the content look like? How are we going to get students involved? There were endless questions, and many are still left unanswered, yet this only leaves room for growth and possibility!
The unnamed newspaper was decided to be intertwined with Mr. Christopher Doty’s journalism class. Then, a panel of local journalists, editors, and other employees were assembled to meet with Mr. Doty’s journalism students. After a very fruitful discussion, they left with a better understanding of the career field and the work a newspaper entailed.
Many months followed, filled with hard work from our technical staff and district administrators, as well as our students. The website was created using “WordPress”, an open-source content management system.
The second semester had begun, and our students were brainstorming new ideas and possibilities for the newspaper. With help from Mrs. Marie Mitschele and Mr. Doty, the classes learned many new skills and lessons about the history of journalism and the specific writing style.
Finally, on April 4th, after months of meetings and endless work, the first edition of “Paupack Press” is now published and available for all to visit and browse! You can expect new stories weekly with a variety of articles that will pique your interest, like sports updates or an advice column from our very own Mr. Doty!
Thank you to everyone that helped make this happen – Paupack Press is only the beginning of an expansion into the world of journalism for the high-school students at Wallenpaupack!
I can’t wait to see where this’ll go, keep up the good work