Day: June 27, 2021

Callie Zack knew this past year would be a tricky one when it came to putting out Wharton High’s school newspaper, the Blue & White.

The onset of Covid-19 practically wiped out the last quarter of 2020, where journalism students generally learn page design, so many new staff members had some catching up to do. Callie’s two associate editors, Allie Massey and Taryn Bartley, would be doing e-learning while she was at school, so teamwork was paramount. And, her ability to pull it all together, as a third of the staff would be learning from home as well, was going to test her organizational skills.

However, Callie and Co. passed the test with flying colors. In May, the American Scholastic Press Association (ASPA) named the Blue & White the best high school newspaper in the country.

More than 90 schools entered the Senior High School category, which is judged by journalism teachers who have entered outstanding publications in the past.

The Blue & White received 960 out of a possible 1,000 points in the contest this year, the most scored by any other newspaper, earning the Wharton publication the ASPA’s highest honor, Most Outstanding High School Newspaper for 2020-21.

“Adviser Kyle LoJacono and the entire staff of the Blue & White newspaper should be congratulated on this excellent achievement,” Dr. Richard Plass, Chairman of the ASPA, told the Neighborhood News in an email.

“It was very rewarding,” says Callie, who will attend the University of Florida in Gainesville in the fall. “It was difficult to get things done this year. Trying to connect and make deadline was very weird.”

While the year was plagued by Covid-19, it wasn’t short on providing news for the four, 16-page issues the staff put out. 

Callie thinks that what separated the Blue & White from its competition was its visual appearance, a new section that focused on hot topics called “The Spotlight,” great photography, a generous use of infographics and a plethora of big national stories — Covid-19, Black Lives Matter, the election, the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, DC, that the staff localized.

“We were a complete newspaper,” Callie says. “We had a staff with a lot of different strengths and we played to them. They didn’t try to be good at one thing, they tried to be good at a lot of things.”

Personally, Callie says she was most pleased with her Feb. center spread about the events of Jan. 6. “I loved writing that piece,” she says, adding that, at  960 words, it was the longest thing she had ever written.

Callie, whose sister Ashley (editor in chief) and brother Taylor (sports editor) are former Blue & White staffers, said she is happy to end her tenure, and high school career, being named the best in the country, especially considering the circumstances.

“There were so many things, like just getting cameras to kids who weren’t on campus,” Callie says. “So many things that we would have never even thought of before. But, to have the organization and skill to make it all happen, I’m just really proud of this group.”

From Homecoming to field trips, the Covid-19 pandemic has stolen quite a bit of the typical senior year experience from the graduating class of 2021.

At Wharton High, senior Taryn Bartley was determined that it wouldn’t steal the senior prom, too.

Taryn didn’t know if her fellow classmates would even be interested in attending a prom planned by another student, so she took to Instagram and posted a poll asking Wharton seniors if they would go, where they would want the prom to be held, and how much they would be willing to spend on a ticket.

“I got 144 responses to that survey,” she says, “and it snowballed from there.”

After touring a few venues, she chose The Italian Club in Ybor City and set the date for May 28. She drafted rules, like no alcohol and identification being required, and only sold tickets to students whose parents signed a form acknowledging the rules.

While school prom committees typically spend all year planning for the big day, Taryn had just 44 days from the day she posted the survey until the day the prom was held. Her mom Amy provided guidance and signed the contracts with vendors, and they benefited from Taryn’s older sister’s experience, who helped plan the Wharton prom two years before.

Taryn knew she needed to sell at least 100 tickets to have enough money to rent the venue. An additional 40 tickets would allow her to hire a deejay.

She was told a typical Wharton prom often has about 300 or 350 students attending, so she was thrilled when she sold 201 tickets.

Then, her mom says, “She worked really hard to spend all the money because she didn’t want to make a profit.”

Taryn held the event the day after graduation. She didn’t want any repercussions from the school for students who attended, and wanted to minimize the chance that anyone might have to quarantine due to exposure to Covid at the prom.

“If I was the reason someone couldn’t walk at graduation, I would have felt terrible,” Taryn says.

The night of the event, Taryn’s parents and a couple of other adults took over as chaperones so she could enjoy herself, going out to dinner in a party bus with friends.

But first, they gathered at the Hunter’s Green Captain Nathaniel Hunter Park with dozens of others, taking pictures as they’ve done for many other events over the years.

“We’ve all gone to school with most of these people our whole lives,” says Taryn. “We’ve added more people as you go on, but there are a lot of the same people, and it was really nice to have everyone together.”

Officially, Wharton did offer some activities to replace prom, so Taryn also was careful to include the school’s student-elected prom court in her event.  

“Out of 10 members of the prom court, we had eight of them come to our prom,” she says. The two who were missing participated in a separate prom organized by different students and parents.

Taryn says that all of the hard work definitely was worth it. “I think it turned out great,” she says. “It really came together like a last hurrah.”