On Friday, Feb. 13, Hays Middle School eighth grade students in teacher Jessica Schwien’ s yearbook class were invited to Hays High School to meet with older journalism students and to learn about the journalism program at the high school.
Members of the Quill & Scroll Journalism Honor Society at Hays High, along with their sponsor Jessica Augustine, organized the visit for the students. This was the club’s second time holding this event this school year, with the first time being during first semester on Nov. 2. Currently, the middle school’s yearbook staff changes each semester, so Quill & Scroll members wanted to offer the second semester students the same opportunity as those involved in first semester received.
During their visit, the eighth graders learned about the journalism program from Augustine, then news staff and yearbook staff members explained how each publication works and what roles and tasks are involved.
After the introduction, the eighth graders split into groups that blended them with Quill & Scroll members to complete a scavenger hunt through an app called Goosechase. The five groups were assigned the same tasks, with each task varying in points based on difficulty. Everyone then ventured off throughout the school building to accomplish as many photo and video missions as possible to beat the other groups.
Once they finished, the eighth graders had a second activity to participate in. Hidden around Augustine’s room were pieces of a yearbook spread, which the middle schoolers had to find to piece the layout back together before Augustine had them identify the yearbook spread terms.
After the activities, Quill & Scroll provided the middle school journalists with snacks and drinks. During this time, students could converse with each other and ask the high school adviser and staff members any questions they had.
“I think that the middle schoolers benefit from visiting because they can see the similarities and differences between the middle school and high school yearbooks,” junior Quill & Scroll member Emmaline Leuschner said. “I enjoy doing the visits because I love to see potentially future journalism kids!”
