The online version of South’s newspaper The Paw Print is going live Thursday, March 26 in part to earn more readership within the community as well as boost student rigor in journalism.
Costing 600 dollars per year, much of which is paid for through ad sales, the journalism class and club will be able to feature more news stories for graduates, parents and community members.
“It is exciting to be able to share the students’ work with the community at such a rapid rate,” said journalism adviser Caroline Butler. This new website will allow the class to write more up-to-date stories, such as recent sporting competitions and events happening in the community.
“Our readers will have weekly, and hopefully daily, stories to read,” said Butler. “Going online will teach the future journalists to adapt to the technological changes in the media, and we can get creative with our story selections.”
Going online will also allow the class to be more connected to the community to find out what everyone wants to read.
The online company School Newspapers Online (SNO) allows users to manipulate a variety of features on the website. They are able to connect many forms of social media to keep connected with readers. The site will give students a chance to be interactive with the website, answering poll questions and commenting on stories. It also gives the users the ability to put more stories online than printing monthly.
Just because the paper is also going online, does not mean South will quit publishing monthly issues.

Also, it will take the students a few months to get use to adding pictures and stories, according to Butler. Even though this is only getting started this year many are still excited about it.

“I’m really excited because I think we can do a lot with it. I think it’s going to be a really great learning opportunities for everyone in the class because it’s more realistic of how journalism is today,” said Paw Print Editor-in-Chief Nicole Aimone.