Edina High School’s student newspaper, Zephyrus, is ramping up its web presence at edinazephyrus.com, in only its second year of consistently publishing content online.
“I’m amazed by what [the staff has] done to make the newspaper more prominent,” advisor Elizabeth Barniskis says. “I’m excited to keep ramping up our website presence and make connections in the Edina community to give our student writers and staff the opportunity to have their work seen by more people.”
Barniskis, who was editor of her own high school newspaper at Minnehaha Academy, began advising the staff last fall and also teaches a blended course of U.S. literature and composition. She says her editors and writers are doing almost twice the amount of work that they have in past years.
Zephyrus distributes 1,200 copies of its print editions and is read online by 300 to 400 viewers each week. More important, the papers’ reporters are seeing their bylines even outside the halls of Edina High School.
Ashley Smith, the paper’s new online editor in chief, worked last spring with the Sun Current, which published interviews in its May edition with 10 Edina graduating seniors, all of which were written by Zephyrus journalists. Smith and copy editor Rayelle Washington attended the National Scholastic Press Association’s workshop in July at the University of Minnesota.
