Allen Community College has been without its voice, now a group of communication students are working to get it back. EITHER WAY, writer Cheyanna Colborn said the student body needs to be informed, and the online news source will be the best way to get information across. After graduating from Humboldt High School, she said she was used to being involved with journalism, and wanted to be involved with ACC.
The Flame, an online news source, was started by Terri Piazza and the communications department in the fall of 2011. After completing its first year, students want to build upon the content they already have created.
Bruce Symes, instructor for the one-hour independent study class, said it is in the early stages.
“It’s a work in progress,” Symes said. “We were dipping our toe in the water, now we are somewhere between the ankle and the knee.”
The news website is on the ACC portal, and is available only to people who are affiliated with the college and have log-in information. Symes said the goal is to move the news source from “intranet” to “Internet” — making the information available to the general public.
Both Piazza and Symes said they are working “kinks” out of the system, so students’ work can be easily accessible.
“Unless you are looking for our stories, you are probably not going to find anything,” Taylor Easum, a student writer for the website said of its accessibility.
Amber Rucker, also a communications student, said they have been working hard to “get readers involved” in the information, and one of the best ways to get them to read the news is to cover the events that they are involved with.
“It’s just like a high school yearbook,” Rucker said. “You don’t flip the page to your friend’s picture first, you flip to your own.”
However, Symes said he doesn’t think “egocentricity” is the best way to get to the heart of the reader. With news progressing with the digital age, his class has made an effort to evolve with the times. He said this is why Piazza chose to restart the paper in digital format.
The print edition of the college newspaper was shut down several years ago, Piazza said. She said she was uncertain of the reason, but knew this time would need to be different.
“Now we are seeing a connection between digital media and journalism,” Piazza said.
She said the college’s plan for The Flame is to test it through the portal system for two years, before publishing on a public Internet source.
“I’m really passionate about journalism, and working in different mediums,” Colborn said. “It think this (The Flame) is an obvious step. It was odd not to have news to produce.”
Nikia Stewart, writer for The Flame, said it is a challenge to get the word out to students, especially with the accessibility issues. But, she said, she and her classmates have done a good job choosing the content of their stories. She wrote a feature story on sports superstitions and why athletes choose to follow them. Other story subjects mentioned were a fall sports preview and an investigative piece on the “cricket infestation” in the college.
Easum said the class showcases many talents from each of the students.
“We are all really different,” Easum said. “We are good at seeing what people have to offer.”
Symes said he has been impressed by the group of five girls, including another writer, Emily Steimel. He said they have been working hard to get The Flame off the ground.
“I am pleased and humbled that they have picked Allen and they are willing to invest their time,” Symes said.
As for now, The Flame is still in the test stages of its intranet phase. Symes said their class mantra is “make it matter,” and that is what they intend to do before they make The Flame public in the fall of 2013.
ACC looks to ignite ‘The Flame’
