WSS Story: Behind the scenes of an IHSPA News Team of the Year

News publications are best know for the news that they cover. But what about the journalists who compile all the information? That all changes when we look at three not so random journalists for the West Side Story, one the top publications in Iowa.
WSS is one of the best high school newspapers, recently being named one of five IHSPA News Teams of the Year and having been around since 1968. WSS is a place for anyone who loves to write and collaborate. WSS is a place that requires a love for journalism and an open mind. “The key to success to being on staff would be to love Journalism,” said WSS Reporter George Liu ’19. “Love what you do, whether that is making videos, writing or designing pages, the best thing is to just be motivated to do your job, and you will definitely improve just by being around the great staff for this newspaper. That will be primarily my advice for future WSS Staffers.”
Not many people know that WSS isn’t just paper and articles. Some of the people on staff are devoted to broadcast and online content, and others are devoted to the newspaper itself. Social media is one of the ways the WSS communicates with the community. “I get briefed on what to post on social media, and also I spend time thinking about good captions for posts,” said WSS Social Media Editor Allie Schmitt-Morris ’19. Schmitt-Morris leads the social media team, posting timely news through @wsspaper’s various social media accounts.. She spends time thinking on a good captions for posts that the community will see. The social media team tries to inform readers on what’s important, but occasionally they like to put entertaining articles for the readers to enjoy.
Finally, many people on WSS plan to do something linked to writing. Not all may want to be professional journalists or writers, but are on WSS to learn new things. Luke Reynolds ‘18 doesn’t quite know what he wants to do beyond high school yet. “I might do more creative writing and go to a college to get a degree for creative writing. If I did go into Journalism, then I would write mainly book and music reviews.”
“The best thing is to just be motivated to do your job, and you will definitely improve just by being around the great staff for this newspaper.” Liu said.