The Eyrie is looking for new people to join the staff, and there are many reasons why students should consider applying.

Each issue of the Eyrie has a little bit of everything, from serious news, to sports highlights, opinion pieces and features. Reporters cover many different topics throughout the year, so there is a good chance they will cover something they are passionate about.

The Eyrie also has a website, eyrieonline.org, that will cover even more than the physical issues.

Applying for a position on the Eyrie does not require too much to begin with. Students just fill out an application, and should have no problem making the staff if they passed their most recent English class.

No prior experience is needed, and all new staff members will be trained either before they start or while they are writing stories for the newspaper.

Students can even acquire a technology credit needed for graduation through the Eyrie.

In order to write stories, a reporter needs to find sources, and sometimes a source is going to be someone a reporter had never met. Being on the newspaper staff will help members break out of their comfort zone and even learn more about their school and the people that go there.

This year, the Eyrie broke tradition by changing page 16 from a sports page to a more personal page. This means that staff members now have more freedom to write about whatever they please (within truth and reason) and see their work published and distributed throughout the school.

Next semester, the Eyrie will completely revamp its look. It will have more of a magazine feel, which is trending with school newspapers currently.

Writing for the paper also helps students develop effective and concise writing skills, which certainly come in handy when writing papers for English.

If staff members like writing for the paper, they can definitely stay on staff for multiple years. With some time and hard work, members can eventually become editors. They can influence how an issue looks, such as what topics are covered in the paper. Being an editor will help students develop leadership skills and look great on college and scholarship applications.

The Eyrie is also looking for photojournalists. They will be provided high-end cameras and take pictures of sporting events, theatre shows and many other things going on at school. The pictures photojournalists take might even end up in the yearbook.

Regardless if a staff member is a reporter or a photojournalist, staff members will work with Mac computers and learn how to use programs like Adobe Photoshop and InDesign, which can be used in many different career fields.

Staff members will also have the ability to compete in year-round contests to win scholarship money and to travel across Kansas and the United States to the Kansas Scholastic Press Association (KSPA) and the National Scholastic Press Association (NSPA) conferences, where they can compete in more competitions, learn new skills and win more money.