Innovation
North Central High School’s student media continues to evolve. Now, we are proudly a social media-dominated class, catering to the tastes of our audience. This doesn’t mean we don’t maintain our website or print media, but times have changed and so have we. Our daily coverage happens on social media, while the website is updated with more in-depth reporting weekly. We produce three print editions of The Northern Lights each year, which now focus on specific topics.
Gameday continues to be a special publication we distribute at various home athletic contests. We are always looking for new ways to reach different audiences. We also do a special senior magazine the soon-to-be graduates get at their commencement rehearsal.
Social media, though, is where our work happens most. As we start a new semester, we are focused on adding more content and refreshing the look of our posts. Between our Instagram and Facebook accounts, we have approximately 5,000 followers. In addition, our work is often shared by other accounts. We have become the go-to source for North Central news in a fast-paced environment.
We are innovative because we don’t shy away from trying new things. As our readers seemed to care less about our print product we adapted. We tried a digital version before realizing we were kidding ourselves that kids were going online to read a digital newspaper. Even attempts at a subscription for the digital copy didn’t move the needle. We realized our audience wants information quick and at their fingertips. For print we focus on themed topics and potential specialty publications in the future.
When Twitter seemed to become far less popular with our followers, we increased our Instagram posts and started to do more on TikTok. Our TikTok account features both interviews and the staff taking part in popular trends on the app.
Next year we are adding a special projects editor to focus on the things we might not even know to consider yet. As things change, we realize we will very likely need to change, too. If we were still just doing newspapers and a website we would not be serving our readers in the best possible ways.
Hear from our editors-in-chief
Check out what Gus and Lucy have to say about our innovative spirit:
Examples
Our Instagram account links to our Facebook page. While the Facebook page isn’t visited by students much, it is popular among parents and alumni.
Check out our new participation with the daily announcements (at the 3:39 mark): basketball coverage
Gus Osborn, an editor-in-chief, now appears on the announcements conducting interviews (at the 2:21 mark): student council
What we do
• three print newspapers a year
• eight print Gameday sports programs/newspapers a year
• daily social media updates (Instagram and TikTok)
• frequent YouTube posts
• special senior magazine provided to seniors at commencement rehearsal
• provide content to daily announcements
