“J Day” or journalism camp, is an event that goes on every year. Schools from all around the state attend and submit either their school yearbook or school newspaper to get graded by selected judges. This year, the Statesman received a low score on our newspaper, despite the fact that we are nationally rated well.

The score the Statesman received was a solid 49/80… a 54 percent. Whoever graded our paper expected us to do the ‘norm’ or only cover news that had to do with LHS, and not use our creative minds to write other stories that are appealing to the students who read it.

“This is a school newspaper that doesn’t seem too interested in the school,” wrote the judge. “About one third of the magazine is devoted to stories/features/opinions that don’t have anything to do with the website. The lack of school news is even more evident on the website.”

Okay, first of all, the stories that go online are SUPPOSED to be different from the ones in the paper issue. If they were the same, what would be the point of having an online website? Also, LHS is among one of the few SD schools that has an online newspaper… Can you find another school who invented their own app specifically for their school newspaper? I think not.

I personally think our rating was bogus and we deserved a higher grade. I also took note of how the judge who graded our paper did not feel the need to sign their name… Interesting. He or she probably does not want to face the criticism for their awful grading because they realize that they are wrong. Sometimes South Dakota can be behind on what is new and creative, which is exactly what our newspaper tries to bring out every issue. Next year, I hope the judges can see that aspect of our paper, and hopefully give the staff a better rating. #gostatesman