Previously known as Computer Lab 411, Mrs. DeWinkeleer’s CP English 11 classroom and the home base of The Lancer Spirit seems to draw quite the crowd each day during D period.     

“The first thing I noticed when I walked into 411 were the stacks of previous newspaper issues and the plastic white folding tables set up,” senior Jake Ziegler said. “I had never seen desks or tables like that in any other classroom before.” 

Ziegler, a heavily involved football player and sports fanatic, is one of many student athletes in DeWinkeleer’s group of Journalism 1 reporters. Sophomore Ashley Andrews is another athlete who is a part of the current staff.

“I understand that people have things on their mind that they want to say but they don’t have the opportunity to say it,” Andrews said. “Given the chance to work for The Lancer Spirit is an opportunity to not only be a voice for the school, but to be the voice that says what everyone else is too afraid to say.”

The Lancer Spirit is highly decorated and respected throughout the halls of Londonderry High School. The staff consists of reporters and editors who are constantly working on being a strong voice for the students of the school. The 2015-2016 school year was the kick start to the new and improved ways of publishing The Lancer Spirit. The well-recognized newspapers have now turned into magazine issues and online articles.

“Going online was probably one of the best choices that the Lancer Spirit could have made,” Ziegler said.“With technology advancing, it will be easier to publish more articles and to get more voices heard. The online publications will be really beneficial to most everyone.”    

The new reporters in the class hope to become better writers and be able to open up more socially after having to talk to so many new people.

“On a more personal level, I hope for this class to help me talk to people more easily,” junior Mary-Katherine Marcotte said.  “I have never been the one to just start talking to strangers, and I know that interviews and the communications aspect of this class will help me get out there.” 

Sophomore reporter Allie Marsh said since joining  Journalism 1, she noticed what a “one dimensional writer” she is.

“One goal of mine for this class,” Marsh said, “is to expand my writing ability and really understand the style of journalistic writing.”

Weisse, just like many other seniors enrolled in DeWinkeleer’s D period class, are present every day to obtain their English credit for the year, while other students like Marcotte are taking the class to “expand [their] resume and better [their] image on applications to schools.”

Since sophomores, juniors and seniors can take the class, a variety of groups in the school are represented in the journalism 1 class.

“This isn’t a class that is so called ‘stacked’ in terms of everyone’s friends with everyone, and not everyone’s personalities collaborate, yet as the year progresses, we will become more open and social with everyone,” sophomore Allie Marsh said.