The WCHS Jacket Journal was able to participate in the STLP (Student Technology Leadership Program) state competition on Wednesday, April 23rd. 5 members of our Jacket Journal staff worked together to create their project titled “Community Connections Through Digital Journalism”. Those who worked on the project were Lily Slayton, Sarah McSorley, Jackson Pinks, Jayden Oakley, and myself, Matthew Mitchell, along with everyone who contributed articles to both the Jacket Journal and the Woodford Sun. The project was highlighting the ongoing partnership between the Jacket Journal and the Woodford Sun.
Once a month, there is a student-written article published in the Woodford Sun from a Jacket Journal staff member. This partnership has blossomed over the course of this school year, so when we set out to create an STLP project, our partnership offered the perfect opportunity. Thus, we centered our project around creating community connections through the use of digital journalism.
STLP competition is centered around technology, of course, but more importantly the use of that technology to establish connections, solve problems, and improve communication and communities. Our project had to meet certain criteria that ensured that we accomplished this overarching principle. We had to first present our project to judges virtually in December, and we were selected to move on to level 2 — the state competition at Rupp Arena.
We worked to put together our presentation — to fit the competition standards, it had to be somewhat science fair style — putting together both verbal and visual elements to make our project look the best that it could. We collected and analyzed data through surveys and forums, promoted our partnership on social media, and, of course, continued writing articles for the Woodford Sun. We put together a presentation as well as a poster board visual element and made the Jacket Journal itself available to the judges. On April 23rd, we presented our project to the state judges.
Unfortunately, we were not selected to move on to the next round, however, we still ultimately accomplished our main goal, which was to establish community connections through our writing. People in the community who are not normally in the loop concerning the events and happenings of the high school were able to be kept up to date through these articles. Hopefully, this partnership will continue, and this foundation can present an opportunity for future STLP projects that can be better than ours.
