With all the coming changes to Wheat Ridge High School, certain parts of our school won’t be the same next year. Because of all the teacher cuts and English teacher Kay  Landon who has been running the program since 2009 retiring, newspaper being in a class period has been cut out of the elective schedule. The Haystack newspaper class isn’t the only class being cut; theater, and film studies are also being cut from the electives that the English department has offered for years. How does this affect us as students? Well, those are extracurricular classes that we can take to get elective credit. 

The Haystack has been such a fun addition to the elective programs at the school and has allowed for kids to have a lot of creative freedom with what they publish and write about. With the Colorado Free Expression law, Landon serves as an advisor, and the staff gets to decide what projects to do, such as writing articles and making podcasts.

“I met some really cool people from this class, and it was a good opportunity to work on skills I didn’t know I had,” says rising junior Caden McNew, a current reporter for the WR Haystack. 

However, just because there is no longer a dedicated class period for the school newspaper, doesn’t mean Wheat Ridge  is stopping the press. 

Students Sophie Martin, Alice Morrissey, along with McNew and Kaitlyn Bush have decided to continue to pursue journalism through a Haystack club starting next fall. 

“We all really enjoy each other,” says rising senior Alice Morrissey. “It’s fun reporting on events going on in the school, and we want to keep the Haystack alive.” 

The Haystack has been reporting on school events and activities going on in the school, and seeing our Haystack teacher leave after more than 10 years with us has taken a toll on the Haystack staff. Landon has taught us a lot, so we are planning on keeping the Haystack legacy strong. Although as a staff we will miss the class, our goal is to keep  the community and joy that the Haystack has created will be there for all the Farmers to come to enjoy.