Clarke Central High School’s ODYSSEY Media Group will move into their new room at the beginning of the 2016-17 center. Student journalists, although excited about the new room, will miss their former room. “The old room meant a lot to a lot of people. It was where so many students learned how to be journalists, a lot of memories,” Viewpoints Editor junior Sara Goodie said.
By AMELIA DELAMATER – Print Managing Editor
The ODYSSEY Media Group, Clarke Central High School’s news source, will be moving into their new space next year.
The ODYSSEY Newsmagazine is an award-winning publication run out of Clarke Central High School. Originally founded in 2003 by adviser David Ragsdale, the production of the newsmagazine and subsequently, the website, ODYSSEY Online, had taken place in a first floor classroom with an adjoining lab since 2007.
“I think that it was a good place for writers to learn not only how to write better but to be better people,” Senior Copy Editor Tierra Hayes said. “It wasn’t the cleanest place, like the most state of the art, but it was home for a lot of people.”
However, with the current renovation of the school, the ODYSSEY will be moving into a second floor space in the newly dubbed East Wing (the original CCHS building).
“This is the biggest classroom in the building,” construction manager Joe Dunagan said. “(The ODYSSEY Media Group has) one of the most rewarded programs in the school, so (the ODYSSEY Media Group) deserves the space to work in.”
The new space will serve as both a classroom and as a computer lab, which will also feature a green screen for the publication’s broadcast program.
“I am on the broadcast staff, so hearing that there are going to be special places that will have built in lighting and green space for ODTV to start back up again will be exciting to see how that changes our broadcast staff,” freshman and broadcast staffer Kiki Griffin said.
Ella Sams, the Senior Visuals Editor, has been part of the ODYSSEY Newsmagazine staff for three years and has seen the need for the new room and is hopeful for the new space and the impact it provides for the future.
“The ODYSSEY is something that requires the optimal resources and opportunities for student growth through journalism,” Sams said. “I think being one of the largest room in the new building, it will not only encourage the growth within ODYSSEY, but also impact students beyond ODYSSEY.”
