Hopatcong High School Launches Online Newspaper

Hopatcong student news is back.

Three years after the high school's student newspaper was discontinued due to budget cuts, a new, more cost-effective newspaper has returned.

The high school recently launched its brand new online news website, The Hopatcong Arrow, last week, and teachers and students are looking forward to once again providing the school community with the latest news in a faster, easier way.

"We're looking at it as a vehicle of communication," said Sandy DeRose, the newspaper advisor, "and I think just the fact that the students are so excited and so positive about the venture that the results can only be positive."

DeRose has been working with students and technicians since September to get ready for the big launch. The idea to bring back the paper first came up at a board of education meeting last June, where she said Superintendent Dr. Charles Maranzano immediately liked the idea.

DeRose said about 40 students, including both journalists and photographers, are already involved and are enthusiastic about the new site.

Senior Donya Forst is the editor, and sophomore Molly Bond is the assistant editor for the website.

Forst contributed to the former paper during her freshman year before it was cut. Forst, who has a strong interest in creative writing, kept up with her writing the past few years, and is excited for the opportunity to work with student news again.

"We hope to be able to communicate with the students and the community and connect everybody together," she said.

Forst added that the website is much easier to work with compared to the hard copy paper, where students can easily just post stories online instead of having to send the paper to a publisher first.

The former paper only had four editions per year, and now the school community will be able to access the site 24/7.

"I think people will be more connected, they'll be able to understand what's really going on in the school," Bond said.

Bond said she's looking forward to her peers to seeing the hard work the club has put in to the site the past couple of months.

"I'm excited for the other students to get out there and read what people have been writing because they've worked really hard on it," she said. 

DeRose, who is also the print/media teacher, said the interest in the class declined the past few years after the paper was cut. She hopes the news website will bring back some of the interest, after many students have already become eager about joining.

She said when the hard copy paper was still at the school, it was easier to get students together to contribute because of the print media class. But because there aren't any classes this year, students expressed an interest on their own.

"Everything was word of mouth and gathering students together and training them in their free time and trying to get this thing going," she said.

To visit the website go to http://arrow.hopatcongschools.org.