Why OHS Journalism May be the Right English Class for You. 

By Gavin Rhodes

The vast majority of English classes here at OHS focus on studying literature and learning how to write stories, essays, and research papers. If you are looking for an extra English credit that involves covering real school events, getting to know your peers more, and telling stories in creative ways, Journalistic writing may be for you. 

Journalistic writing at its most basic is writing with the purpose to tell a story to your readers. Every news story you see on TV is an example of journalism. 

Here in Journalistic Writing at OHS, students cover real events happening here at OHS as their assignments. These events include musical performances, sporting events, and other school events. 

For example, OHS Journalism students have covered fine arts week, girls’ softball becoming conference champions, and Evan Miles' game-winning shot that went viral.  

In addition to that, we also do features on students and staff who have interesting accomplishments and tell them for the whole school to hear. For example, we have covered Josh Weber, who is doing a steamfitting apprenticeship, Maya Jadhav who received the Jane Street Mathematical Award for exceptional math skills, and Alex Seitler who got the opportunity to perform at Carnegie Hall in New York City.    

When covering stories, one of the ways that we learn our information is through interviews. In most English classes, research involves looking up information online or in a book. In journalism, we set up and conduct in-person interviews to really get to know the person well and to be able to tell their story effectively. 

“You get to really know a lot about your classmates through interviews,” said Katie Bergeland, one of our writers. 

In addition to writing these stories, the process allows Journalism students to branch out and meet people in all areas of the Oregon High School Community.
Furthermore, OHS journalism also allows you to be creative in how you tell your stories. Unlike other classes where you write essays and make Google presentations, in OHS Journalism, you can tell your stories through written articles, photos, audio, video, or a combination of them. 

You also have the opportunity to share your stories on Panther Radio or Panther Vision. Many of our writers created content for Panther Vision and Panther Radio. Gavin Rhodes did weather reports on Panther Radio. Cole Krueger did sports reports on Panther Radio and panther vision. Betsabe Ramos and Abigail Wanta also had the opportunity to host Panther Vision. Cole said, "I got to experience completely new opportunities while being on Panther Vision and Panther Radio.” 

Finally, OHS Journalism allows you to explore your interests and help prepare you for your eventual career regardless if you actually want to pursue a career in the media. Besides just news, weather, and sports, many more topics can be reported on using journalism including economics, cars, video games, movies, pop music, and many more things of interest. 

If you are going into any field that involves creating content, telling stories, or communicating in any way, taking journalistic writing while being here at OHS is a great way to prepare you for your future career while earning an English credit for graduation.