Since the beginning of the school year, Media Office has continued to flourish and grow. We started off the program with four members from the senior class and four from the junior class and needless to say, we have since expanded. With the seniors graduating in a few short months, it was apparent that to continue the program we would need to induct new members to write for the Eagle Examiner and hold other various positions. It was obvious that the only way to select these new members was to have all interested rising juniors complete a very detailed application. The application was written solely by the students in Media Office. We decided upon three main writing portions, two sample articles and one short essay. Through this detailed application, we wanted the potential members to demonstrate to us the effort that they would hopefully bring into Media Office next year.

With around ten applications submitted from the sophomore class, it showed that there was ample interest in joining the program for 2015-2016.  All of the Media Office members, along with our advisers and various other faculty members, held a meeting to review over all of the applications and select the new members that would officially begin their new role next fall. Among the selected students were Emily Cheston, Anna Scott Wingfield, Caitlyn Vester, Julia High, and Thomas Moore. We are so very excited to soon begin training these five so that they will have the right tools and knowledge to have a successful next two years in the program.

Along with the addition of new members, Media Office has also added two new office positions to accommodate for the accumulation of students. Our positions this year have included an editor-in-chief, two co-editors, a treasurer, a secretary, two photographers, and a social media chair. Next year, the positions business manager and marketing chair will be added.

Other new additions to the Media Office mission have included our working with the school to complete two promotional videos to be used at open houses and tours along with the DVD sales for various school functions. We have already completed our first promotional video, which was a still-shot video released back in the fall, and we are now working on an interview promo video that will feature a multitude of RMA students, faculty, parents, and alumni that will be released in the spring. As far as the DVD sales go, we have already produced and sold a DVD for the RMA Holiday Concert. We were able to raise around $700 to be used towards various media supplies. Media Office is now working on also selling DVD’s for the Spring Concert as well as Graduation. We will also be compiling a bound book filled with Mrs. Covolo’s famous graduation speeches. These books and the DVDs will be sold at their respective events to all parents, friends, and faculty members wishing to purchase them.

Lastly, Media Office would like to highlight the change in Instagram account. We have recently switched from photographing school events to using the new hashtag “#facesofrma”, where we will capture a photo of a random RMA student and add a quote provided by the him or her. We feel that this is a great way for followers to really see all of the different kinds of personalities that make up the RMA family. If you are not already following us on Instagram, please find us at @rockymountacademy.

We hope that you have enjoyed all of the work that Media Office has done this year and we are so glad to be able to come to you with such great news about our improvements!