School News
January 31, 2018
A monthly newsletter covering area schools
Lion's Roar is back
Student-led newspaper hit stands last week, will continue through June
BY ZACH SILVA
zsilva@cgsentinel.com
After a seven-year hiatus,
the Lion’s Roar newspaper, the
student publication produced at
Cottage Grove High School, is
back in action and will be in this
week’s edition of the Cottage
Grove Sentinel.
Partnering with the Sentinel,
the Lion’s Roar which was
fi rst printed in 1943 will
be publishing on the last
Wednesday of each month in
what was previously the "School
News" tab of the newspaper.
Since the paper’s absence in
2011, students tried to keep it
going but without a designated
class were unable to keep it
afl oat. In recent years teachers,
including Garrett Bridgens, had
been having discussions about
getting the paper back into the
school.
Last year a group at CGHS
met with Sentinel Editor Caitlyn
May who agreed to help bring
this dream to life.
“I
think
if
teenagers
understand how the news is
made and why a story is a story
and why other things are not
stories and what the facts are
and what bias is, I think we’re
creating good consumers of
news,” said May.
Bridgens’ media classes, two
classes that total 30 students,
then became the newsroom for
the Lion’s Roar.
“It just worked to have kids
do the photography, learn
InDesign and become reporters
and so yeah we started working
with Caitlyn, she started coming
in twice a month and helped get
us where we need to be,” said
Bridgens.
Before students were at a
place of writing and reporting
on the news, they fi rst needed to
understand what news was.
“It was actually pretty
interesting to go in and they
didn’t know anything about
the news. They had a general
understanding of this broad
'media' term but had no idea
about the rules and regulations
that guide what journalists do.
They just kind of knew the
The Cottage Grove High School newspaper is back after students paired with The Sentinel to produce a three-page addition to the paper's sports section.
A full pullout section will be available at the end of each month from February to June.
rhetoric around society. And
every class I would ask what’s
going on in the news and the
fi rst few months it was like
pulling teeth,” said May.
As the months progressed,
students became more and more
informed as they recognized
and questioned stories both
locally and nationally--from
the hurricane in Puerto Rico
to the coaching change at the
University of Oregon--that
they were reading and viewing.
Students then came up with a
wide list of stories that they
could have a future in this if you
wanted to stick with it,” said
Bridgens.
The fi rst issue has 11 different
stories that discuss topics such
as South Lane Mental Health to
student athlete profi les.
Senior Jackson Perkins, one
of the editors of the paper, has
enjoyed the process of making
the paper. Perkins is also an
editor with the CGHS yearbook
but has seen his role change
when making the Lion’s Roar.
“So far there’s a lot more
choices I have in here. A lot
more reign with what I do…
But here I’ve kind of found
that Bridgens will get asked
a question and he’ll be like,
‘Ask your editor’ and I’ll be
like ‘That’s me,’” said Perkins.
“So it’s kind of been different. I
think it’s been fun.”
Perkins is looking forward
to the fi rst edition of the paper
but is more excited about the
progress they can make and
what is still to come.
“I’m hoping with the next
one it won’t be as haphazardly
thrown together on the last
day,” said Perkins who was
then corrected by Bridgens
that it wasn’t ‘haphazardly’ put
together.
“Okay, put together in a last-
minute manner.”
The Lion's Roar can be read
last week beginning on B9. It
will appear regularly in the last
edition of the month throughout
the school year in place of the
"School News" pullout section
usually found in The Sentinel.
were interested in covering.
After assigning jobs ranging
from editor to reporter to
photographer, the class was off
to create their fi rst paper. With
the different positions and jobs
assigned to students, Bridgens is
excited about what the students
can do moving forward.
“From my perspective as an
advisor and teacher in here, I
am thrilled working with some
of these students that are writers
or photographers, they’re really
talented. And you can see that.
And I’m like, you know, you
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