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program disseminated news
to our school population. After
a professional discussion and
inquiry, the editorial team decided
to change from producing a
newspaper to a news magazine.
They agreed that a news
magazine format would allow
writers to delve deeper into
topics that were important to the
Manchester Township High School
community. Instead of producing
informational articles based upon
a date, they produced feature
articles that told a deeper story,
on topics including the heroin
epidemic in Ocean County, the
Black Lives Matter movement and
human-interest profiles about
fellow students who were making
a positive impact both inside and
outside the school.
I was in awe at how excited my
student journalists were to see
their work in the redesigned
magazine, aptly titled The
Talon 2.0. The switch to a
news magazine format with a
contemporary and professional
design definitely increased reader
engagement and improved the
reputation of the publication.
What was missing from our
program, however, was an outlet
for breaking news and a way to
reach beyond the boundaries of
our school building.
Coincidentally, as our journalism
program expanded into two
advanced classes called Advanced
Journalism and Career Journalism,
the district switched to a new
website host and format with
blogging-type features. Both
administration and our district
public relations representative
approached me about the
possibility of having our student
journalists produce online
news content in addition to still
producing a yearbook and the
printed news magazine.
Thus, our online news site, The
Talon 2.0 Cyber Edition, was born.
(While the New Voices of
New Jersey legislation re-
establishing First Amendment
rights of student journalists and
protecting journalism teachers
was introduced in the New Jersey
legislature two years ago, the
bill has not made much progress
towards becoming law. For now,
Hazelwood standards are our
norm as our district hosts our
website.)
I was generously afforded time to
update the course descriptions
and curriculum for all of the
classes under the Journalism
umbrella, while incorporating the
new online format and linking the
most recent New Jersey Learning
Standards to each standard/skill
within the curriculum.
When introducing the new online
site, Cyber Edition editor John
Simonini wrote, “The Talon 2.0
Cyber Edition has begun a new era
in not only Manchester Township
High School’s journalism program,
but in the Manchester community
as a whole. The way society
operates in the 21st century,
everything is circulated around
the internet, and being online
has become a necessity for The
Talon. With access to posting on
Manchester Township School
District’s website and then
promoting through Twitter, the
journalism program is looking
forward to the opportunity
they have been presented
with: becoming a well-known,
respected publication of news