March recap:
CPTV wins three state championships:
The staff of Crown Point High School's CPTV Media traveled to the University of Indianapolis for the 2015 Indiana Association of School Broadcasters state conference as reigning state champions. After the event, they came home as champions as well, earning three state championships at this year’s competition. The staff’s Jan. 28, 2015 episode of CPTV was one of 400 to be considered by numerous TV broadcasting professionals.
What was once a simple telecommunications course has evolved into a state winning program, a feat senior Alexis Berdine is proud of.
“We have grown from a basic school announcement program to a real medium that provides stories that are important to our audience. There is more of a focus on good journalism and a true interest in storytelling now,” Berdine said.
Four students, including Berdine, plan to attend school for journalism after graduation this spring. With experience through CPTV’s involvement, Berdine feels that she and her classmates are ready to make the leap into college broadcast.
“CPTV has been a life-changing experience that has prepared me for my future like no other program has,” Berdine said. “Now, with the next step to my life approaching more rapidly than ever, I realize I don’t have a lot of stresses because of the skills my teachers have equipped me with over the past couple of years.”
After winning the School Newscast state championship last year, the staff of CPTV repeated as state champions for the 2015 Best School Newscast by once again edging out schools such as Carmel High School, Ben Davis High School, Franklin Central High School, and Martinsville High School.
Latin Club places first at state convention
For students like junior Natalie Brigham, it was the time of the year they had been waiting for a long time for. The Latin state convention was here, and, imitating previous years’ outcomes, the Crown Point High School Latin Club made sure they came out on top.
The team participated in a variety of different competitions throughout the event, including a game of Certamen, graphic arts contests and spirit competitions.
After adding up the total tallies, Crown Point High School placed first overall in the state, an honor Brigham feels comes second to the memories her group has made during the convention.
“The whole experience is so cool,” Brigham said. “It sounds super nerdy, but it’s really cool because you get to meet a bunch of different kids from different schools. The bonds you make last a lifetime, and I’m so happy I got to experience it all over again.”
Theatre department performs “Once Upon a Mattress”
The spotlight was on once again as the Crown Point High School theatre department performed “Once Upon a Mattress,” a comical remake of the classic “The Princess and the Pea.”
Senior Kyle Thompson believes a dynamic cast helped make the shows worthwhile, their abilities to work together a quality that Thompson truly appreciates.
“I am so proud of my cast,” Thompson said. “I have been in a vast amount of shows with many different casts, but I felt that this cast in particular was my favorite to work with. Everyone worked well together and I am honored to have been a part of the experience with them.”
Coming off of his last show, Thompson will miss being able to work with such a cast, an aspect he puts before the rehearsals and performance itself.
“I of course enjoy performing and the process of rehearsal, but it’s the people that I share it with that make it worth doing,” Thompson said. “I have met some of my closest friends in theatre and I will never forget them.”
April Preview
Crown Point High School to hold annual Student vs. Teacher Olympics April 16
Students and teachers will go head-to-head in Crown Point High School’s annual Student vs. Teacher Olympics on April 16. All proceeds from the event will go towards funding the NICK Foundation, and with both sides getting ready to compete in various games such as basketball, tug of war and a pie eating contest, junior Paul Dawley is excited for the outcome.
“The Student-Teacher Olympics is a fun opportunity for students to compete against their teachers while also supporting a good cause,” Dawley said. “It seems like an exciting event ahead, and it’s great to promote extra-curricular involvement.”
Dawley isn’t shying away from the competition. With a heavy match-up in store, Dawley looks forward to giving it his best.
“It’ll be a friendly competition,” Dawley said, “but I can’t wait to crush them in something. It should be fun.”
Student Council to sponsor fourth annual Dance Marathon
Student Council members are urging students to stand for those who can’t for the fourth time on April 10 with their annual Dance Marathon event. Students will have the opportunity to attend a dance full of games while raising funds for Riley’s Children’s Hospital.
Student Council senior officer Verda Mirza is looking forward to spending the evening with friends, enjoying the moment while contributing to a good cause.
“Dance Marathon is a great opportunity to just relax, have fun and play games,” Mirza said. “It’s a great feeling. You’re enjoying yourself while still contributing to a good cause, which doesn’t make it feel like an obligation, making everything so much more enjoyable.”
Registration is $15, and funds will still be collected as donation to the hospital.
Student of the Month
Tina Winfrey named one of seven Indiana high school journalist of the year finalists It’s been a dream of hers since she was barely nine years old. Senior Tina Winfrey would lay up in bed late at night, scribbling down her recollection of the day’s events frantically in her journal. She loved to write, and, as she grew older, her dream of becoming a writer became more than a vision out of reach.
It became a reality.
As one of the editor-in-chiefs of the Crown Point High School newspaper, Inklings, Winfrey was named one of seven finalists in Indiana for the journalist of the year award, an honor Winfrey attributes to the hard work she’s put in throughout four years of high school.
“Being a finalist was just really exciting because I feel like I’ve put in a lot of hard work so far,” Winfrey said. “To be honored is extremely rewarding.”
After high school, Winfrey plans on attending Indiana University to pursue a degree in journalism in hopes of working for a magazine in the future. Winfrey believes being named a state finalist was a means to add to her confidence heading into the field of journalism.
“Being down there made me realize that I could have a career in journalism someday,” Winfrey said. “It just made me happy to see that I could be good at something I loved to do.”
Teacher of the Month
Julie Elston leads newspaper staff to numerous collective and individual awards
It started when she was in high school.
As a student, journalism adviser Julie Elston, too, was on the newspaper staff, pursing her passion in journalism through her contributions to her school’s paper. Now an English teacher at Crown Point High School, Elston has found herself sharing her passion with her students serving on the Crown Point High School newspaper, Inklings, an opportunity Elston believes has allowed her to combine both journalism and teaching.
“I became interested in journalism when I was in high school because I was on the high school paper, so I thought that combining my love for journalism with my love for teaching would be a great combination, and I’ve been doing it ever since,” Elston said.
Elston has led her staff to a variety of different individual and collective awards, including a Silver Crown honor from the Columbia Press Association last week.
Despite the mounting honors, Elston believes the staff’s true accomplishments lie within their work ethic, a quality she believes has led to her staff’s recent success.
“I’m just super proud of all of the work that we do, always,” Elston said. “I’m proud of the staff’s awareness of different people and their stories, that, as journalists, they don’t live in a bubble. That’s exciting for me: to be around young people who do care so deeply about their world and about others. That’s very meaningful for me, whether or not it leads to awards. I just always appreciate the talents and the awareness and the heart that they have.”