BOZEMAN — Students at Gallatin High School felt like one thing was missing when the high school first opened, a student newspaper.
A group of students got together and started their own. They printed their first paperback in November 2022. Now, they work together to tell the stories of the students and the community.
“I especially love the community getting to meet all these amazing people,” said Gallatin High student Grace Ryan.
For the staff at the Raptor Report, Gallatin High School’s student newspaper, the community is at the forefront of the stories they tell in their newspaper.
“I don’t think that I quite expected that for my first article,” said student Mars Fagin.
Their first edition was published in November. One of the first major stories they covered was the tragic death of a Bozeman High School teacher, Kelly Fulton.
“I talked to tons of kids who had had him as a teacher and who just had nothing but good things to say about him,” said Fagin.
The students meet on Mondays to discuss and brainstorm story ideas for their next edition.
“It's a little chaotic, but I just sort of end up piecing it all together for different issues,” said Madeline Boland.
Many of the students say they get their ideas from what they see in person, but they still draw some inspiration from what they see online.
“For me it's pretty big because people tend to only access, a lot now but accessing art is very online,” said student Ren Fritz.
The newspaper isn’t created for a class; instead, it is a club. Ms. Warn who serves as their advisor says the students have hit the ground running to get the newspaper printed.
“I think they have a good breadth of knowledge for sourcing and for finding good information,” said English Teacher, Elaine Warn.
Ms. Warn says she taught them the basics of journalism at the beginning.
“Make sure you're talking to more than one person, make sure that you are verifying your information,” said Warn.
This group of about 20 students is the first to write down history for Bozeman’s newest high school. They are picking the course they want the Raptor Report to head in.
“Making sure that everything relates back to the school because that’s how people read the school newspaper to hear about the students' lives and what's actually going on in GHS,” said student Addison Jones.
They say they are glad to tell the stories they are passionate about, even joking that their editor hasn’t turned their story down. They are glad to work together to inform their fellow Raptors.
“It is a whole group of people that are interested in the same thing that I'm interested in and that I have that thing in common with,” said Jones.
