The Bulldog Times (BDT) is the official student-run online newspaper here at Ayala High School. It is a journalism extracurricular where students can embody and help represent the community of Ayala, and where you let your creativity and writing fly in publications. It’s a lively class where you aren’t sitting around listening to boring lessons, but instead get hands-on engagement. Apply now!
As fun as the class sounds, it still demands a lot of work and attentiveness when creating quality articles, especially outside of class. As a 2-year student-journalist working at the BDT, I’d argue some APs are easier to manage than Journalism. If you have decided to take up journalism here at Ayala, I would like to pass down my experiences in the hopes of boosting your success in Journalism. These are five tips I recommend to current/future journalists to help achieve publication greatness through the BDT.
1. Perceive things simply, and don’t be startled by it!
It is quite common that you’ll write 600 to 800-word articles, some complete with interviews (at least in most departments). On top of that, a visual and a caption for it is required to be posted as the front thumbnail cover. That will then go through checks by the editors/advisors before it is released.
Though it looks like a lot of work goes into publishing an article on the website, it’s more straightforward than you think. Planning for such a big task is very flexible, depending on how much work you can do comfortably. Viewing all this work as stepping stones could really make the efficiency of creating articles increase drastically.
However, everyone works differently, and if you can find the best working style you’re comfortable with, then make it your priority. The next tip below could definitely help your efficiency.
2. Don’t dread, just write
The hardest part about writing an article is starting from nothing. How do you write anything from nothing? No matter how you start typing to begin your article, just type something down.
Putting stuff down will still give you ideas, even if the ideas aren’t remotely close to the topic you are gonna write about. It fires up a rhythm that helps you get into the journalist mindset. And when you slowly transition to writing about the topic of interest, your active mind drives you to simply write down things and see where it takes you. An exercise like this is recommended by many courses that involve intense writing, even in college courses.
It applies to any type of article, whether you are writing for the biggest football game of the season or even an opinion piece that you are passionate about. Just put something down.
3. Analyze how other articles are written
Do you have no idea how articles should be structured or written? You have a ton of resources to help you. There is a great wealth of articles published in the Bulldog Times, and it provides a great real-world example of what a typical article would look like, especially on the website.
There are also a plethora of staff who have a year (or more) worth of experience in the publication, so don’t be afraid to ask them how they set their articles up for success.
4. Having connections is key: utilize them
The hardest part of Journalism (in my opinion) is scouting for people who want to do interviews. You never know, there are plenty of people who want to or are willing to be published, but others aren’t comfortable. What is important, though, is the people who are relevant to the topic of your article. For example, you would want to interview a math teacher if the topic you are writing about is math-related.
The more people you know and familiarize yourself with, the more people you have to interview. It is a common procedure to email or reach out to people who are interested in your article, but establishing a connection between people will allow you more potential in interviews to get into interesting conversations.
Your friends are already a connection, and they could be useful one day in an article you would want to write. Ask around if you’re looking for interviews, and don’t be shy to ask. This is a tip that I wish I had known much earlier in my stint with journalism that definitely translates to real-world situations where networking is necessary.
5. Dip your feet into other interests
When you join the Bulldog Times, expect there to be in different areas of journalism.
The News department writes on relevant topics of interest currently around the community of Chino Hills (depending on the importance of the subject). The Features department explores many ideas, opinions, and subcultures, and works to highlight subjects around the community. The Sports department will write anything related to athletics and sports, whether it be a coverage story of a game or the impact of a player. The Social Media team creates posts and promotes the Bulldog Times through social media platforms.
There are a variety of things you can try, even if you are content with one department only, but don’t just leave them alone. You can find what you not only work best in, but also what you find fun in.
Maybe one of the departments you were eager to join was harder than you thought, but another department you didn’t expect was found to be much more enjoyable. Finding what you are great at is one of the most important things that can impact your journalistic adventures.
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Working as a journalist is an outstanding extracurricular that motivates you to get involved with the student body and stand out on college resumes. As an experienced writer for the Bulldog Times, these tips would have been a great benefit to me if I had ingrained them during my first year writing, and I hope future journalism students would find success in the future through the help of these little tips. If you haven’t applied for Journalism yet, you can do so here.
