BILLINGS — After nearly a decade of being in charge of the school paper, Billings Senior English teacher Adam Restad knew something had to change.
Restad said he could sense the popularity of his elective course decreasing, and his class size diminished along with it.
Watch the full video of this story below:
"It became clear, you know, in a more digital age that people just weren't as interested in reading the newspaper," Restad told MTN. "We ended up combining the newspaper kids with the yearbook kids just because it would've been too small."
But Restad knew that merely combining two different classes wouldn't fix the most important problem. He needed to modernize.
"I actually took some classes and got another degree," Restad said. "So, now we can be a multimedia English class, rather than just focused on writing."
That extra degree has proved beneficial. Restad's newspaper class has transformed. For the first time, the program offers students the chance to try working on different media platforms.
"We can do podcasts, we can make newscasts, and we can do more digital magazine layouts and stuff like that," Restad said.
It's clear the students love the changes. Senior Emma Miller said the class has offered her a unique glimpse at the importance of journalism.
"Although we're just a class and there's not a lot of us in there, we really impact the community," Miller said. "Everybody loves to see what high schoolers are doing and sports events, and I think that publishing a newspaper like this just helps facilitate a good environment."
Fellow senior Elias Wight said Restad's commitment to improvement is inspirational.
"It's nice to have a role model," Wight said. "Someone who's really good at what they're doing, but also changing and improving as a teacher and a person."
But for Restad, there's more to his class than just offering students a glimpse at different technology. Restad — a graduate of Senior High himself — was a part of the newspaper when he was in school. He said there's a standard and tradition that he wants his students to uphold.
"Telling stories in a community is really powerful," Restad said. "This is us who is recording the history of Senior High, so we kind of have an important role."
Along with that, Restad is determined to teach his students how to ethically report the news.
"We could report on anything, right?" Restad said. "We have some great freedom of speech protections, but there's also kind of a high standard of like, if we're going to produce good quality news, here's what we have to do."
It's a responsibility his students don't take lightly. Wight said they all understand how important their role is in spreading accurate information throughout the hallways.
"Journalism is very valuable," Wight said. "A lot of people rely on it to get solid, truthful information."
And that's what Restad focuses on the most — providing students with the correct journalistic process regardless of the medium.
"Bringing that sense of community exploration and communication is super important," Restad said. "Whether that's a podcast or a news story or whatever it is."
