Penn Manor’s Online Newspaper had a Fantastic First Year

Just as Penn Points Online turned one year old, its website received its 80,000th view.

There are many students at Penn Manor that are very proud of the work they do for the newspaper, and put a lot of time into their articles.

The journalism class and club members say they love the success the newspaper had in the past year. Many people have won awards and others are in the running now for national awards.

Journalism Students celebrating one year anniversary. Photo by Angela Mayo.

“It’s really impressive for Penn Manor because no one really knows who we are and 80,000 people all over the world can access it,” said junior Sarah Schaeffer, the paper’s editor.

Schaeffer’s story on Chinese immigrant Mandy Li has been nominated for the National Scholastic Press Association’s multi-media story of the year, as has seniors Taylor Groff and Kendal Phillips’ story on the school’s mosaic project.  Out of four NSPA-nominated, multi-media stories, two are from Penn Points, one is from a school in Missouri and another one from California.

Some of the awards won in the last year are the NSPA’s Online Pace Maker Award given to the top seven online school newspapers in the country and the Pennsylvania Student Press Association gold level award. At the convention in November, the state organization will choose from the gold level nominees to name the top three students newspapers in the state.

The newspaper has improved a lot in the past year, according to its reporters. A lot more stories get posted and there are many more people in the Penn Points club.

“It used to hit 50 something per week, now were getting 500 hits or more per day,” said publisher Rob Henry.

Rob Henry has been a part of the newspaper since it started and was instrumental in launching a coffee cafe as a fundraiser for the club.

“I’m very proud to be a part of Penn Points because now were number one,” said Henry.

Many students in the class have developed a strong interest in the field of journalism.

“I like finding out things and telling stories and I like telling people the truth,” said sophomore Gabie Bauman. “Journalism is one of the careers that I’ve been considering for a while and I’ve known for a while that I wanted to write.”

Bauman believes Penn Manor’s journalism class is going to help her in the future.

“We’ve got deadlines and we’re pushed to find ideas, push out stories and produce quality material, just like in a real news room,” said Bauman.

By Liz Lawrence

One thought on “Penn Manor’s Online Newspaper had a Fantastic First Year”

  1. This is great! Penn Points Online has a very professional look and you have much to be proud of. Congratulations on your very successful first year!
    Ed Cook
    Editor-in-Chief, 1971-72

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