Teachers are asked to play the latest episode of Buford’s The Stinger ON AIR every Friday during first block. This broadcast is a significant part of Buford High School, but where did it originate?
Back in the fall of 2022, The Stinger, a student-run news site and broadcast, and its first Stinger staff were introduced, consisting of Kensi Sutton, Kelsey Watson, Robbie Young, Abigail Sherrin, Michaela Catoe, Michael Escamilla, Kaitlyn Outen, and Braxton Rollyson. These eight reporters started what is now so prominent for students at BHS and the Buford community.
With the advisory of Matthew Collier and Richie Knight, the first show was produced on Sept. 16, 2022 with, then senior, Kelsey Watson as the first anchor. “It feels like just yesterday I was anchoring the first-ever episode,” Watson said. Since Watson was a senior then, she isn’t here to see how much.
The Stinger has grown over the years, but current senior, Michaela Catoe, is experiencing the change. “We’ve definitely found out what works and doesn’t work in terms of what people will watch, what people won’t watch,” Catoe said. Figuring out what entertains people has helped make the broadcast better.
But the broadcast isn’t the only part of The Buford Stinger. Alongside the video version, there’s a website with more, detailed content. From Humans of the Hive to Features, students are producing all the content.
Collier says that the students producing all of the content allow him and Knight to take a step back and observe, helping out only when they are needed. With Collier’s and Knight’s guidance, students can learn aspects of journalism like writing, filming, and producing content with hands-on learning.
None of the original Staff members are currently taking the course, whether that’s because they graduated or their schedule didn’t allow them to take the class, but the goals from the Fall of ‘22 remain the same.
Collier explained how he’s noticed that the students improve every day with what they’re producing on the show and website. “Within the last two years, I think The Stinger has changed in a couple of different ways,” Collier said, “Our student broadcast is just that, it is now more student produced.”
In the beginning, The Stinger staff found it hard to produce the show under their conditions. Senior, Braxton Rollyson, remembers how different the first class was– producing-wise. “Well in the beginning it was just, like, really small. We had a lot less people in the class and for the broadcast specifically, it was split up into teams of two and it was really had to get a broadcast done with mostly students doing all the work with just two people, so Mr. Knight did most of the work,” Rollyson said.
Even with limited experience and members, that small class of eight started what we all know as Buford’s The Stinger ON AIR. Since its debut, the Journalism class has grown in size, enrolling as many as 22 students in a semester course.
Along with the class size change, there have been improvements within the staff. “I’ve seen classmates go from goofing off to really applying themselves in the class,” explains current Stinger staff member, Rylie Beckham, “I went from treating the class as something extra to do to putting a lot of effort into it.”
Alongside Beckham’s newfound effort toward the subject, she has also experienced the impact her skills have had toward her other classes. “One of the big things have been graphics,” Beckham says, “I’ve used them in other classes, like English, Intro to Teaching, anything where an assignment with a graphic is included. It’s helped me be able to easily navigate websites more because of it.”
If you are interested in learning more about how to become a Stinger staff member, contact Matthew Collier or Richie Knight.