With the second semester right around the corner, let’s introduce the club that does it all: our school newspaper, iHoot! In this article, we will see what students from elementary through college have to say about this club, how it has benefited them, and why you should join! 

What’s the big deal?

What is this club in the first place?

In simple words, we are iUniversity Prep’s school newspaper! We meet every Friday at 9:30am in Mrs. Harbison’s Live Lesson room and have a blast learning about writing techniques and getting to meet new people. All year long, we welcome students to join, and they automatically have a title: they are called Staff Writers. Staff Writers can write articles all year long, without any limits! Every writer helps to update our community with world news, students’ opinions on things, events in our school, college topics, sports, entertainment, travel, and much more!

Now I get what you’re thinking. If I have to struggle to take English, why should I join a club about writing? I thought you would never ask! Not only does this increase your practice in writing but we also have monthly challenges and lessons called Writers Workshop: where we get a few people from our staff to discuss a topic and share with the rest. Another fantastic factor of iHoot is that we get to play some Kahoots when we need to review…or just for fun! These things help with your grades in English and other courses if you have to do research for an article about something related to what you are studying. However, unlike your course, these articles don’t come with prompts. We come up with our ideas, which gives you more wiggle room! Speaking of our ideas, we also have a time at the end of the meeting called Storyboarding: a few minutes where you can brainstorm with other students and potentially be put down to write an article!

Along with writing, there are many other options you can try out here. There are more than 20 members with higher positions that aren’t only writers. There are the Top Ed’s (Editor in Chiefs and Associate Editor) who work with the sponsor teachers and are mostly in charge of managing the staff, leading meetings, and working with the teachers to come up with ideas. Next, we have Section Editors who lead specific sections and everything that goes into them. Similarly, we have Staff Assistants that help the Section Editors if they need any help, and they manage and get a status on the section’s article ideas. In addition, we also have a Photography/Social Editor that is in charge of all things involving design, and can help everyone individually when creating cover pictures for their articles. Last but certainly not least, we have Staff Writers! They are always welcome to the team, and they help us achieve our main goal…writing articles for our iUP community! Everyone works to help each other with photography, organization, editing, marketing, web skills, and we always give each other feedback on the work we do!

If you are still hesitant, let’s ask an iUP English teacher herself. I asked her, “What would you as a teacher say about someone hesitant to join a club like this (socializing, writing, technology, and monthly challenges)?”

She stated, “A lot of students in my Freshman English class get upset because they ‘already know English,’ and they don’t understand why they need to take 4 more years of English. They don’t understand that we use writing constantly: writing social media posts, communicating via text with a significant other, filling out a job application; sending an email. Learning how to express yourself in writing, whether that be in a college essay or a post on social media, is incredibly important. When you know the language to express your feelings and how to word them in a way that allows people to easily understand your message, that’s the most powerful skill in the world.” Why not try something beneficial for your writing skills, and get to have some fun along the way?

The View From the Inside

From elementary to college, we have people who have been in iHoot and want to share what they think about this club.

Introducing Austin Travis! He is a sophomore majoring in Psychology at Texas Woman’s University, and a few years back, he was Editor in Chief of iHoot for 2 years. He started as most kids in high school… loving sports! He says, “I’m very passionate about sports. I love racing and the Dallas Cowboys, and I saw iHoot as an opportunity to share my passion with others in the iUP community. I also hoped to make a name for myself and ultimately get a job in sports writing or broadcasting. While that didn’t happen (getting a job in sports), I still gained valuable skills and made some amazing friends. I miss iHoot so much and I wish I could come back!”

Sarah Jagnow! She is also a sophomore in college as a Chemistry major at the University of Texas. A few years back, in 2019-2020, she was a Staff Writer for iHoot. She nostalgically says, “I was looking to become more involved at iUPrep and iHoot was a great way of doing that. The meetings are a great mixture of fun and club business. iHoot meetings are some of my most memorable experiences at iUPrep, as well as where I met many of the people I still interact with, despite having graduated. Thank you, iHoot, for giving me a unique high school experience filled with learning and laughter! “

Danny Hall! As a freshman here in iUP and the Sports Section Editor in iHoot, he shares his gratitude for the club’s way of maintaining unity and creativity at all times throughout the club. He contentedly says, “I have always been intrigued by newspapers. Back in the 5th grade, my friends and I attempted to make a school newspaper, but unfortunately, there was a lot of drama that caused the paper to end before it even began. When I came to iUniversity Prep last year, I was just scrolling through the list of clubs, and, wouldn’t you know, I saw iHoot and signed up without hesitation. Now, 1 year later, I am an editor for iHoot, and I have finally fulfilled my lifelong dream of being a part of a newspaper (well, one that didn’t fall apart as a result of tension amongst the writers), and I could not be more grateful to have this amazing opportunity.” 

Eve Bamber! She joined iUP and iHoot in 9th grade, and is now a junior and one of the Top Eds! She remembers, “I love writing and was looking for a place to foster this interest of mine! I was also a newbie at iUPrep and wanted a chance to interact with other students in a fun and stress-free environment. The first iHoot meeting I went to had me sold! I soon applied to be a BOE member and served as the News Section Editor alongside an amazing team of leaders during the 2020–2021 school year. The following year, I wanted to take things a step further and serve iHoot at a greater level. So I applied to be the Co-Editor-in-Chief, and I am so grateful to have been offered the role. iHoot is my family! “

What’s in it for me?

What skills and benefits will you acquire when joining this extracurricular?

Time Management: From personal experience, I can say that this club forces you (in a good way) to make a schedule. I joined the club as a procrastinator, but since I know that I have responsibilities, students, and teachers depending on me, and I have to manage my school work and extracurricular activities, it motivates me to get my act together and create productive and healthy habits. With deadlines and our staff reminding you of things you need to do, you can feel under pressure and in a tight corner. However, you will learn to schedule things in advance to avoid that uncomfortable, stressful feeling. This will not only help in iUP so you can learn how to make the most of your time, but also in college, your career, and in life in general.

Writing Skills: Let’s see what some of our high school students say about how iHoot has progressively evolved their writing performance. Makenna Horne, an iUP senior and our Special Section Staff Assistant, explains, “iHoot helps me with expanding my writing skills as well as getting to experiment with writing for different areas. I also love that I get to hear feedback from the section editors on how I can improve my writing.” Marcus Bamber, an iUP sophomore and our Associate Editor explains, “For English class or high school classes in general, you will have to formulate an idea, research it, and write about it. iHoot is a great, fun spin on this process where you get to pick what you write about and it brings joy to what some people would view as a chore, writing.”

Leadership: You will need to interact with people regardless of what you do in iHoot. I know this isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, but you can control it to some extent. Even if at first you don’t want to, by the end of the year you will come out with friends! Staff Writers who don’t have any responsibilities will still interact with students and teachers in the weekly meetings and with their editors and interviewees when writing an article. If you are a people person or have a goal of expanding your social skills, then having a responsibility within our BOE (Board of Editors) is certainly for you. You will learn how to work with and manage other people around you, which is a skill that will without a doubt benefit you in the future. Harrisen Smith, an iUP senior, goes into this saying, “iHoot looks great on college applications and practices the essential skill of writing.” In November 2020, Post University wrote an article explaining the best extracurriculars for college applications. A few of them were leadership, creative, and technological activities: all things that our newspaper has incorporated into our positions.

Marketing: Like Kendall Myers, an iUP 7th grader says, “Did you have a morning announcement crew back in brick-and-mortar school? If so, think about that crew and add a digital newspaper with amazing student leaders and even a broadcasting team with amazing editing skills! Put all of those owlsome things together and you get iHoot!” 

Lainey Moffet, an iUP junior emphasizes,” It’s challenging to describe iHoot to someone who doesn’t know about it. However, I’d start by saying it’s all about promoting written art, making life-long friends, and having fun throughout your time here!” iHoot does several online events year-round and collaborations with other clubs but we also try our best to work together strategically, and get the word out as much as we can.

Web Design & Software Knowledge: Online school involves having software knowledge and knowing how to manage and use technology, but iHoot gives you more than that. If you go to the iHoot Newspaper website you will see graphic designs with each of the articles. We have promoted and taught our fellow staff how to use a free web design platform and how to do it professionally and attractively.

Speaking about graphics, here is what this year’s Photo/Social Editor, Curtis Bamber has to say: “Having this job as the Photo/Social Editor has helped me with my graphic design experience as I create lots more graphics and photos than I used to. If I wasn’t in this position, I definitely wouldn’t have the need of making as much or better graphics. I have been able to practice more and get more experience with graphic design and the different software I use.” We allow you to ask Curtis here for help, or practice and develop your own skills in this field!

Finale

By joining and becoming more involved with this club, you will grow in so many ways! Not only will you acquire experience with cultivating skills and a professional but still entertaining atmosphere, but as more than 10 people have proclaimed,” You won’t regret joining iHoot!” We look forward to seeing you at our next meeting!

If you made it here and still haven’t signed up, make sure to check out this form!

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScsNXCp66IYABG6x18OpAgHHKLL7AsBCbHwOl6kMwA01udRyw/viewform

Sources:

• https://www.teachthought.com/literacy/all-students-should-write/#:~:text=Writing%20promotes%20the%20brain’s%20attentive,development%20and%20stimulus%20of%20the

• https://www.masterstudies.com/article/10-reasons-to-work-for-a-student-newspaper/

• https://blog.collegevine.com/should-i-join-the-student-newspaper/

• https://post.edu/blog/the-best-extracurricular-activities-to-include-on-your-college-application/