Memories of Highland

Cutter's Log - Stardate 2102.51.11
Current Song - Harbor Lights (The Platters)

I recently made the trek to Orangeville High School for a basketball game. I drove on some familiar roads. These were the same roads I drove back and forth on as I was attending journalism classes at Highland Community College in Freeport.

The up and down hills of Freeport Road. The winding curves of Fairground Road.

One day up there, I went to the Goodwill store to find some tape cassettes for my car (as it does not have CD capabilities). One of the tapes I bought was the Doobie Brothers' "Minute By Minute" album. For most of that school year, this would be the only tape in my car and I would listen to the album in its entirity, front and back, again and again. The songs became synonomous with the roads I would take up north.

So en route to Orangeville, I popped in the cassette.

Any time that I go to Freeport for something, I try to stop by Highland (where I spent the 2008-09 year) and pick up a copy of the "Highland Chronicle" newspaper. I paid the ol' college a visit, but just in enough time to pick up a paper.

Seeing the newsroom again brought back memories of the long nights I would spend in there writing articles, editing pieces, and surfing the Internet (when my home computer had failed).

It was at Highland that I learned a lot about the role of the college newspaper, and a lot about supervising a staff of young and old writers.

This opportunity came when Sauk's paper was axed due to budget cuts, and Highland offered its journalism classes for free.

I served as sports editor during the first semester, and had one writer under me. When he didn't return for the following semester, my "editorship" turned into that of "associate editor." I could have been THE editor, but I preferred that someone from the area and more familiar with HCC than I was take the spot. I was, by far, the most qualified person there: four months of actual newspaper experience, and two years of college newspaper experience (plus all that NISB and PSO experience).

In my role as Associate Editor, I was charged with the copy and proofreading. I wanted to bring a true journalism culture to the newsroom, but as the semester went on I kind of resorted to the fact that this staff was just not ready for AP style, news writing and interviewing. I was proofreading a bunch of Composition 101 papers, pretty much. No one could understand where I was coming from, and I think many were frustrated with me in the process.

In trying to bring a true journalism culture to the newsroom, I offered to bring in many newspapers from different areas that I have traveled to. "The box" included the QC Times, SVN, Rockford paper, Peoria Journal Star, New York Times, and many, many more including the papers I had brought back from my trip to Tucson. I collected these papers in hope that this group, and future groups, would look at them and come up with ideas and reading material to help them put together a unique newspaper.

The one article that I won an ICCJA award for was a volleyball preview piece. Highland had not participated in the ICCJA for quite some time, and I brought the idea to our advisor, Sam. After all, I had participated in the workships when I was at Sauk. We had to get the fee for the membership dues approved by the administration, and we were in business.

One of our writers, Jordan, won an award for a Music Review piece. However, perhaps the best thrill that I got out of all of the awards was that our editor, Marques, took first place for the logo design. His award was in an actual plaque. I can remember him personally thanking me for providing this opportunity. That meant more to me than the award that I won.

I also wanted to expand the presence of the Chronicle. I penned the column that introduced the newspaper's website (thehighlandchronicle.com), another wonderful work of art by Marques. Another big idea was the expansion of circulation.

The core areas of any newspaper are: advertising, editorial, marketing, production and circulation. I was the de facto circulation director as well. This is a role I took a lot of pride in.

When I first came to Highland, we had literally hundreds of past editions lying in a stack outside our advisor's office. This stack was expected to grow as the school year carried on. We had mentioned circulation in passing during a class session, and I inquired as to what areas outside of campus we send the paper to. I think when Sam replied that we had sent copies to the Jo Daviess County Prison for inmates to read did the thought of mass circulation come to me.

Finally, that stack of papers would have some use. I delivered them to gas stations around Freeport, Dakota, Rock City, Lanark, Stockton, Lena, Warren, Winslow, Forreston and Winnebago. Whether this worked, I will never know. I think the best spot was at Johnson's Stockton location, where I seemed to always come back to an empty slot.

My inital thought was that expanding the circulation of the Chronicle would lead to more content about college-related matters, as well as serving as a recruiting tool for future students (both young and old).

I don't think anyone else carried on what I brought to Highland, but hopefully I left somewhat of a lasting impact.

When the opportunity arises, I will pen my thoughts about "Circulation and the College Newspaper."