Journalism students at Homewood-Flossmoor High School will be using new Nikon cameras this year. A $1,200 mini-grant from the Illinois Press Foundation is covering the purchase costs.
Teacher Rachel Kucharski, sponsor of The Voyager, the H-F student newspaper, learned of the grant and applied in spring 2021 for an award. She got word at the start of the semester that the award was being made.
Kucharski is working with 24 students who are putting out the paper both online and in print. Editors-in-chief are Andrew Hale and Isiah Adeleke, both seniors who have been working on the paper the past three years.
During the 2020-21 school year when students were remote learners, journalism students learned how to put out the paper online, Kucharski said. This year, the 24 students working on the paper are continuing with the Voyager as an online publication. The print issues are being reduced from nine issues a school year to quarterly printings.
Publishing online makes the paper easier for students to get their works posted and read, Kucharski said, rather than waiting for a print deadline every five weeks or so. The switch is giving some students the option of writing more and publishing more.