KARINA BLODNIEKS
Redesigning the heirarchy
After my first year as editor-in-chief, I realized our website was struggling. My focus was mainly on print (because that's where my heart is), so I realized we needed a Constitutional separation of powers to keep both mediums running concurrently. Thus, my advisor and I decided to have one overall editor-in-chief (myself), one managing editor for print and one for online. This would enable both platforms to keep themselves afloat regardless of the other.
After doing so, my online team and I decided to revamp the website. While I cannot take credit for the actual remodeling of the website, we came out with a product that was sleek and up-to-date. We update articles weekly, and have, as of January 22nd, 2017, 44 articles posted in the news section alone this school year, as opposed to last year's 16 total.
Because of this, both print and online have been able to get the attention they deserve. We are on track to release 5-6 print editions this year, as opposed to the two we printed last year.
Photo of myself (center left), Print Managing Editor (center right), Online Managing Editor (left), and advisor (right).
Higher expectations
Here is the point where I'm brutally honest about our growth. After my freshman year, our long-term advisor left unexpectedly and we entered a period of turbulence as a publication. Our website faltered as we switched advisors one more time, and were struck with uncertainty about where we were going. Furthermore, the lack of continuity made it difficult to construct our image of what we wanted our publication to be. My first year as editor-in-chief, we switched advisors halfway through the year, but for the first time in a few years, we found our perfect advisor match. After a particularly rough beating at the end-of-year awards in 2016, I made it my mission to reconstruct our publication. I attended the James Ansin/Peace Sullivan High School Workshop in Journalism and New Media to try to learn the ins and outs of a well-respected publication. To this day, I think it's nearly miraculous that I was accepted considering my only writing samples were barely even journalistic work, but I came away with a Best News Writer award and an arsenal of skills that I instilled in my publication.
First, we had to make news the most important and well-respected beat. Composed of a staff of mostly creative writers, this was no easy task. But by mandating everyone write one news article per entertainment article they wrote, we ensured the integrity of the "news" in newspaper. We gave everyone a week per article instead of two, and in the case of time-sensitive news, each staff writer has 48 hours to turn edits into a final draft. I think by instilling this kind of work ethic, we made it possible to turn out the good news writers we have today.
Here's an example of a news article we posted recently, compared to a news article we posted last year:
CCHS REACTS TO LOCAL SHOOTING AT FLORIDA INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT
Staff Writer
January 9, 2017
After an eight-hour flight from Alaska to Florida, 26 year old Esteban Santiago was in no hurry to pick up his personal belongings at the luggage claim and get home.
Instead, he brought his only checked baggage to the airport bathroom - a small bag holding a semi automatic 9 mm handgun and ammunition inside - loaded it with bullets, and walked out ready to open fire.
The January 6 Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport (FLL) shooting that left five dead and six injured has rocked the South Florida community, a chilling reminder that tragedy can occur in unassuming locations.
Students at Cooper City High School expressed their shock at the incident, with many well-traveled students shaken by the closeness of the attack. The Fort-Lauderdale airport is the nearest airport to Cooper City, and a popular point for international destinations.
“It’s incredibly scary that it happened so close to home,” Junior Casey Chapter said. “Things like this have happened too much in recent years, but you never think it will happen locally. I never did until this shooting happened. It doesn't quite become as real to you until it happens right here.”
Esteban Santiago, a New Jersey native and Iraq War veteran, opened fire at a Terminal 2 baggage claim at FLL after a Delta flight from Anchorage, Alaska. The weapon he used in the deadly rampage had been legally checked as his only luggage, along with two separated magazines of ammunition.
Despite being apprehended and taken into custody a mere eighty seconds after the first shot, the panic remained for hours.
Senior Kia Del Solar was on the runway when Santiago opened fire, describing the experience as “surreal.”
“We passed Terminal 2 on our way to go check in,” she said. “Everything was pretty normal until we got on the plane. After being on the runway for ten minutes, I saw two helicopters flying above the airport. I thought it was a bit odd, but then ambulances and security cars started racing towards the airport.”
With the travelers secured inside the plane, the pilot made an announcement to the passengers about the incident that had occurred just inside the airport.
“[The passengers] were completely in shock,” Del Solar said. “A lot of them turned on their screens to get more information and some got up to talk to the flight attendants. Many of the people around me also called their relatives or friends to confirm that they were safe.”
Del Solar’s flight was delayed an hour; it was the last one to leave FLL before the airport was shut down until five the next morning.
“Originally I couldn't believe it,” she added. “You never really expect these tragedies to happen to you or your close ones.”
Reports of the shooting began gaining traction on social media midday as news outlets released information about an active shooter, inciting mass panic in the airport and resulting in thousands of travelers scrambling for safety. Images of people fleeing on foot along the tarmac, arms raised in surrender, circulated around the internet. Twenty-thousand bags were left without owners as travelers dropped their personal belongings and ran for what they believed was their lives.
As news of the incident was made clear, students took to social media to express their horror.
“Just found out about the airport shooting & thinking about how I was just there yesterday scares me. Praying that everyone is safe,” Sophomore Alexa Pichardo wrote on Twitter.
Junior Melany Rivera, whose mother works at FLL but was not working on Friday, followed the updates live on television with her family.
“When I saw the news unroll on TV, my heart dropped,” Rivera said. “We were watching it live, and suddenly everyone started running across the tarmac... I felt so horrified that something so terrible happened so close to home and at a place many people in our area go to so frequently.”
Fort Lauderdale had not a moment of silence on Friday, where agencies from counties all over Broward sent hundreds of officers in patrol cars, helicopters, and ambulances to respond to the crisis. Multiple SWAT teams arrived to assist in gaining control of the situation, as well as several K-9 officers.
Mark Brent, a parent of a Cooper City High School student and a member of the Davie SWAT team, was on duty at the time of the shooting and helped search and secure the parking garages, as well as the airport terminals for any other suspects.
“The atmosphere was crazy. It's the only word for it,” Brent said. “It looked like a wasteland - it was obvious that large amounts of people left in a hurry and in a panic. Personal items were scattered everywhere, restaurant tables were turned over, food everywhere. It was just crazy.”
Released airport surveillance videos showed the moment Santiago began firing at the baggage claim. The BSO officer responsible for leaking it is currently under suspension with pay following allegations that they filmed the video with their camera phone and sold the video to TMZ.
“I saw the [TMZ] video and I felt really scared because I recognized where they were,” said Junior Ryan Sullivan. “I’ve been in that baggage claim. It was surreal.”
Mental illness seems to have characterized the shooting instead of terrorism. Gunman Santiago turned himself into the Anchorage FBI last November, complaining about “hearing voices” and being forced by the CIA to join the Islamic State and watch videos of them training. Though he stated he had no intentions of harming anyone, authorities referred him to a local psychiatric facility, where he was ultimately released after a few days.
His family members said that Santiago had not been the same since returning from his tour of Iraq, especially since having seen a bomb explode next to two of his friends.
The FBI closed their case on Santiago after an assessment, and his gun was returned to him in early December after having been confiscated during the FBI’s evaluation. Less than two months after the incident, five people lay dead at the hands of a mentally disturbed gunman.
Though the incident has reopened conflict over U.S. gun control policies, specifically in airports, the fact remains that Santiago checked his weapon legally and followed all TSA procedures.
The general consensus, however, remains that mentally-unstable individuals should not be allowed to own guns.
Senior Jesse Klauber pointed out the importance of policy enforcement, finding a problem with the mental illness aspect more than anything.
“The fact that an individual who had shown signs of mental instability, regardless of his military past, was allowed to carry a firearm on a plane displays a failure to enforce gun control policy,” he said.
Santiago was charged on three counts and could face the death penalty if convicted. He reportedly told authorities that he had scoped out the Fort-Lauderdale airport purposely and planned the attack. Why he chose FLL, a smaller destination airport and not a larger connecting one, is not yet known.
Cooper City students are still reeling from the attack, and an airport once regarded as safe now has people on edge over the bloodshed. For the families of those dead, only answers can be offered now.
Note, in particular, the sensitivity used in tackling a big issue. Furthermore, the way that we localize a big issue instead of simply writing again what's already been said about a big issue.
NEW PLANET DISCOVERED
Staff Writer
March 10, 2016
On January 20, astronomers Mike Brown and Konstantin Batygin announced evidence of a ninth planet, roughly the size of Neptune, orbiting our sun just beyond Pluto.
The idea that there is a ninth planet in our solar system is not new. While it has been a hypothesis for many years, researchers at the California Institute of Technology claim to finally have sufficient evidence of its existence. Through a series of equations and computer simulations, Brown and Batygin were able to establish that there is a planet or celestial body somewhere in our solar system. “Planet X” is estimated, based on its gravitational force, to be 600 to 1200 AU (astronomical units) away from the Kuiper Belt, even further than Pluto.
Although the mysterious “Planet X” has not been seen through a telescope as of yet, its presence is inferred due to the strange elliptical orbits of objects in that area, most likely shaped by another planet. The fact that the planet hasn’t been visually confirmed isn’t surprising as it’s most likely very dim, too far from the sun to reflect any light and too cold for any heat signatures to detect it. In short, finding Planet X through a telescope would be like searching for a needle in a haystack, or a small speck of light in a sea of bright stars. Some remain skeptical of Planet X due to its extreme distance from the sun. However, astronomers suspect that it was originally formed much closer to the sun but was later launched away by gravity as the universe expanded during the formation of the solar system. This would explain why the alleged planet is now so far away.
The idea of Planet X isn’t new and has actually been discussed for over a century. In 1906, a wealthy tycoon named Percival Lowell looked for Planet X at his observatory in Arizona. In the end, he failed in his search due to lack of technology. The hunt for this world even resulted in the discovery of Pluto in 1930 by American astronomer Clyde Tombaugh. Although many have tried and failed to prove its existence, astronomers are starting to believe that there’s just too much evidence to ignore.
With the universe constantly growing and expanding, there’s so much we don’t know. Hopefully, with advances in astronomical technology, the confirmation of Planet Nine won’t fade into the cosmos.
In particular, I believe our success this year is tied to the requirement of three student/teacher quotes per article, as well as simply a greater understanding of what it means to be a news writer. My advisor and I essentially had to teach an entire staff, who had been misled for a year, how to be actual journalists. Here's the slideshow I presented at the beginning of the year to teach the staff how to construct a news article:
I believe, above all, my willingness to redesign an entire publication in the course of a year shows the impressive groundwork I've accomplished. Not only have we tripled our print production (alongside making the graphic design better), we also redid an entire website and made the content of our products more meaningful. We've been learning to push the envelope a little bit with what we're able to cover, so we're beginning to transition more into hard-hitting news.
I think the point of this is that coming into my role, I had a slightly misguided staff with a lot of potential. A large part of my work as editor-in-chief has been molding that potential into tangible results.