By Turner Smith
Editor-in-Chief
Graphic by Qiyuan Zhou
Metea Media, the student-run online news source for Metea Valley High School, was named a finalist for the Pacemaker Award last Wednesday. Pacemaker is awarded to the top student-run websites in the country by the National Scholastic Press Association (NSPA). Fifty schools from around the country are finalists for the award, and NSPA will announce the winners on April 17 at its annual convention in Los Angeles.
NSPA, an educational non-profit organization providing journalism education services across the United States, selects Pacemaker websites that include high quality content, frequent updates, powerful photography, multimedia, and engaging social media.
“This is a validation of all the hard work that our staff has put in this year. We’ve all worked so hard to make sure we have quality stories posted for our readers every day,” online editor Drew Danko said.
Metea Media updates the Metea Valley community on news and issues relevant to the school while also providing a forum for discussion about school issues. “It gives students the opportunity to voice their opinions and ideas on their reaction a specific piece, so it creates the beginning of conversations that are necessary,” Language Arts Department Chair Diane Tancredi said.
Recent stories tackled issues of casual racism, the use of the ‘N’ word among students, Adderall abuse in students, fat shaming, and school fights. Metea Media has also frequently made use of polls, comments, and questionnaires to provide a voice to every member of the school community.
“This is a huge honor especially because we’ve all put so much hard work into everything that we do, putting up quality stories and building the website. I’m very proud of everyone on staff,” social media director Ashley Walker said.
Metea Media is the official news website of Metea Valley High School and receives over 90,000 views per month. Its mission is to educate, inform, and highlight the stories that walk Metea Valley’s halls while providing a designated public forum for Metea Valley students.