Next school year, the Statesman, will be adding another class period to account for the increase in staff and popularity of journalism at LHS.

“We’ve had a lot more students interested in doing journalism, taking journalism classes and then going into Statesman,” said Katie Kroeze, the newspaper and yearbook advisor at LHS.

The increase in popularity could be due to many things. Perhaps it is the increased integration of technology into news coverage, such as having an online issue or using Snapchat as a tool. It could also be simply because students want to have their voices heard.

“Some people really wanted to be placed into the paper class because they have strengths in design and photography,” said Kroeze. “There are a lot of students who want to do online because they have more strength in the technology aspect of it and want to write more stories.”

Whatever is causing the increased enrollment of the Statesman it is doing it effectively. Next year’s Statesman will be split into two sections, online and paper, where there will be a total of 42 staff members, compared to the current 27. The second class period will also allow for flexibility in student’s schedules.

“There have been a lot of kids who have asked me if they can join halfway through the semester,” said Kroeze. “Since we will have more space in both classes we might be able to do that a little more.”

More staff members means more stories coming from the Statesman, and the split between paper and online will allow for a more concentrated approach to stories. Staff members will experience less stress, while producing higher quality works.

“I am most excited to work towards establishing the website as equally as important as the print issue,” said Will Howes, future online editor-in-chief.

The Statesman will continue to work towards providing accurate and entertaining stories. Specifically, the online edition will work towards gaining viewership and if the two classes periods go as planned it will.