Ripping the Mask Off: A Dark Patch in Journalism

By: Madison Lira

The once lively Pueblo County High School, which held so many events cherished by all, has become a desolate topic for writers of the school’s website, TheBuz. When comparing the website from this time last year, the stories were full of life and captured the fun moments of attending the school. One of those stories being about our annual Make-A-Wish fundraiser, which was filled with school spirit, dancers and cheerleaders getting down to a Star Wars mixed track and a Jedi fight of the ages between the two Mr.Grossen’s of our school.

This year, due to school shutdowns, COVID-19 guidelines and a fear of even a sniffle has sprung a drought in the school’s journalism class. Stories that have been published during these gloomy times always now mention (in some form) COVID-19 and the effects the pandemic has had on students, faculty and even our city and state. That hasn’t been the biggest change however to TheBuz, instead of having the combined yearbook and website journalism class like previous years, the school decided this year to split the two into separate classes. 

Even the school’s yearbook/buzz sponsor, Ms.Fodor, didn’t know about the split until pretty much the first week of school. I had asked her how she felt about the two splitting, “I was very happy to see that happen! I feel we can plan and coordinate much better.” A positive outlook on the split, and I also was curious if she had noticed a significant change in the staff because of the split, “The change is good now, but it was bad at first. I had to change and rearrange the curriculum and this class is also offered for Senior-to-Sophomore credit, just like the yearbook class if you take it for two full years. In the past the curriculum and requirements were pretty similar. They are still similar as I still require basic journalism strategies in both, but now we can still coordinate materials and be separate entities. It allows the students to really participate in both worlds. The real-world experience is the most valuable lesson. Students in both classes have a product they need to market and build.”
However, writers and editors of the school’s website have a different view of the class split. One editor, Amairani Chacon (junior) had this to say about the split, “The split of the classes has made everything ten times more difficult. Last year, we were able to communicate with one another because we were all together. We used this opportunity in order to bounce ideas off of one another in order to achieve greatness on both sides. But this year the only communication we have is new about the other class through what Ms. Fodor tells us, everyone kinda does their own thing now.” Chacon also had this to say about coming up with stories for the website, “ It’s been very difficult since most of our content is usually covering school events and with COVID-19, many events are unable to take place. We still have good writers who come up with topics but there’s only so many topics at once and it can be difficult to find a story for everyone to cover.”

​Sponsors and editors have a different take on this difficult time which is understandable, during these dark and difficult times it’s hard to find a positive look on something that has negatively affected the students in yearbook and journalism this year.