Dear student body,

Hello! We are your 2016-17 Editor-in-Chief of the school newspaper. We are so excited to be passing out our first issue of the year to you today, Sept. 22.

The theme of our September issue is everything new: a new building, a new student union, new policies, a new disc golf course and much more. Along with this, one of our staff reporters voiced her opinion on cyberbullying; we welcome back a beloved volleyball coach to the DHS varsity team and take a look into the 2016 cross country season; and we introduce all the new teachers in the building (more with that ‘new’ theme), feature a freshman ranked in the top 16 upcoming racecar drivers and celebrate a sophomore who placed at a national rifle shooting competition. Our back page photo essay shares all the themes the DHS marching band has to add some fun to their rigorous Monday night practices.

This issue did not come without facing several challenges. Not only did we introduce eight new staff reporters to how our publication works (the largest staff The Green Pride has ever seen), we also switched printers. Our new printer allows us to print our newspapers in full color, as in previous years we have printed in half color and half black and white. However, with this switch, we had to completely change our design to fit the new layout. Though this was difficult, our Adviser Michael Sullivan admitted that this is “one of the best first issues” in The Green Pride’s history.

Our website has also changed drastically. We are pushing to get at least one story posted every day, which we have struggled with in the past. We are also writing beats on every sport and activity. Ideally, each one will have a story posted on the website about their events once a week. We hope this will help boost school spirit and show more support for every student in the school, no matter what activity they are involved in.

Additionally, we have added a Facebook page (The DHS Green Pride) and Snapchat (@dhsgreenpride) so all of our readers can stay updated on everything we post regardless of what social media they are connected to. This is along with our preexisting Twitter (@DHSGreenPride) and Instagram (@dhs.greenpride) accounts.

We are so excited to spend the next eight months providing you with information on anything and everything De Soto High School and we hope you love our first issue as much as we do.

Sincerely,

Emma Bascom and Sydney Hoover

The Green Pride Editors-in-Chief