What is The Eyrie?
For many of our staff members, it’s a way to speak up about the things they feel like are important. From politics to pop culture, our newspaper gets to share every side of the story. Our newspapers scatter classrooms and backpacks and, much to our despair, even the recycle bins. They tell our stories, showcase our achievements and spread the word about important events coming up. To senior Nancy Gonzalez, a first year reporter, newspaper is about getting to talk about the more niche topics.
“I feel like sometimes we stay so focused and narrowed down on certain things that we don’t cover everything. So when I see something that we don’t talk about enough or that I haven’t heard about enough, then I like to pick it,” Gonzalez said.
Story picking is a unique process afforded to all reporters on staff, but it starts first with what is referred to as “table time,” where every Tuesday we gather around the center table and share upcoming events.
One of three editors-in-chief, senior Mya Roberts, plays a role in deciding what stories go online or be printed.
“So we’ll start one day brainstorming and then we’ll have all of the reporters give us their top five choices or so about what they want to write about for that issue. Then me and the other EICs will go through and we’ll assign stories and figure out where they’re going— whether it’s going to be print or online,” Roberts said.
Roberts and the other editors-in-chief, senior Makenna Aiello and junior Damien Courtney, then decide how to arrange the paper.
“It’s going to be what’s most important. So if it’s really relevant at the time, if it’s happening currently or if it’s going to happen close to our distribution day and it’s still relevant when we distribute, that’s what we’ll put in the print issue. [Things like] sports, some of that bigger stuff that’s going to get us more traction,” Roberts said.
From there, we’re able to move on to the design aspect of the paper. Senior Juliana Rangal, editor-in-chief of our yearbook, The Talon, joined staff this year to expand our design horizons.
“Springer pulled me over [from yearbook] so that I could implement a lot of my page design skills into newspaper as well as to help them out a bit. I feel like it has [made a difference] because I added my little trends page, which I feel like has made something consistent among all the issues that’s fun to look at,” Rangal said.
This is often happening around the same time as the article writing. Newspaper requires us to be flexible and have multiple focuses. Sometimes that can be overwhelming, but to Gonzalez, it’s always rewarding in the end.
“My favorite part of newspaper is probably seeing the outcome of it; seeing what everybody has worked on and then seeing all of the art the artists have done. I really love looking at the art, it’s one of my favorite things; seeing how hard-working all of us are and how a team effort can make something wonderful,” Gonzalez said.
In order to see our issue come to life in print, staff members have to work together as a team. While some of us play more public roles, others quietly support the writers as we work towards publishing. The artists on staff are some of the most important to us because without them, our newspaper would lack a lot of the visuals that make our paper interesting to look at. Senior Sylvia Grimsley, lead artist, helps to make sure everyone gets the art pieces they need.
“I talk to the other artists [to] make sure that they’re doing their job and I assign art contracts from journalists… [Our work starts] later in the beginning of the issue because we really have to wait until people start putting in art contracts. There’s a deadline for [art contract submission] and for artists to get their art done… that’s about it,” Grimsley said.
Grimsley also helps to coordinate other artistic aspects of the newspaper.
“I decide the color palette with the help of the other artists… and also who does the cover,” Grimsley said.
What is it like to be on staff?
In The Eyrie, we pride ourselves on being a place where anyone can belong. It doesn’t matter when you join or how long you’re on staff, we aren’t the same without every single member of our team. Senior Jaeden Lawson, a first year reporter, was recommended to join staff by someone on The Talon.
“I didn’t want to sign up at first, just because I had a lot of stuff going on, but eventually she kept pressuring me into doing it and I signed up and it’s been a lot of fun ever since,” Lawson said.
Lawson enjoys writing more light-hearted stories, such as his review of The Wild Robot, and the artistic opportunities that come with those.
“I was excited to have an excuse to go [see the movie] and it turned out to be probably one of my favorites of all time. I had a lot of fun figuring out how to write an opinion and I also really liked my artists… We have a lot of talented artists in The Eyrie so it’s fun seeing what people make for whatever story you’re [writing],” Lawson said.
Art with a purpose, along with infographics and photos, is something that we’ve focused a lot on this year.
“[Alternative] coverage is basically anything [else on the page] that’s related to the story… I’m working on the KCMO fire that happened a while ago so things that I’m doing along with that is kind of a fire safety PSA… just things to put around [so that if] people get bored reading through walls of text they can go look at a little image or take a little quiz,” Lawson said.
Senior Andy Forest, a first year artist on the newspaper staff but a previous member of the photojournalism staff, has drawn some of the graphics this year.
“It’s different from an art class because I can draw stuff for people and have a little goal. With the time limit too, that we have, it motivates me too… [I joined newspaper] mainly to be able to not be so stressed out but still be on staff because I really enjoy it, it’s a really nice environment,” Forest said.
Staff members have many external motivators and goals that separate us from typical english and art classes.
“I’m really motivated by the fact that people are going to see my art and so I want it to look good and so if something looks bad, I’m like ‘oh my god!’ I need to redo that. It motivates me to get better and also the time limit we have with our articles I can see, ‘oh I need to get this done by this week!’ That way, I’m not just forgetting about it like other art projects,” Forest said.
Senior Easton Yahn, a first year reporter, joined the staff as a sports writer with his brother, junior Barrett Yahn. They often write stories together, but this issue will be the first one they have worked on separately.
“The [story] I’m most proud of is the Dylan Plath one because we even had to bend the [format] rules for me to do that one, with my headline and everything but I loved it. It was awesome, it was a fun page design, it was a good story and it got a really good review from other people,” Yahn said.
For Yahn, getting his work out there is also a big part of why he writes.
“[Newspaper] is kind of a freedom hour. You kind of get to do what you want, you get to express how you are and who you are through the paper… I want to do my best, whatever I do, especially when this is seen by other people I want to put my best foot forward,” Yahn said.
