OPS high schools received new journalism equipment at the start of the school year.
Bryan received 25 MacBooks, eight Canon Mark D2’s, lighting equipment and more. Journalism teacher Kirsten Gilliland feels the upgrade was needed.
“Newspaper students use the laptops to type stories and upload photos,” Gilliland said. “Yearbook uses them for the same reasons and to work on the yearbook online.”
Gilliland feels it is easier to work on the new equipment.
“It’s much easier to do work now on the MacBooks,” Gilliland said. “I had to redo a lot of my curriculum to make instructions that were specific to these types of devices using Microsoft.”
Junior newspaper editor-in-chief Kyra Carpenter likes the convenience of the new technology.
“I like the new computers because I can fit them in my bag a lot easier,” Carpenter said. “The other computers were a lot bulkier, and they’re a little more annoying. These computers, the software itself is a lot simpler.”
Carpenter enjoys the new equipment and feels her peers enjoy it as well since it is easier to turn in work.
“I’ll say it once and I’ll say it again, I love the computers because I never really had a computer growing up,” Carpenter said. “Every time I’m in here, I see people asking, ‘Hey, can I check this out? Can I use this?’”
Yearbook staffer junior Kevin Garnica-Raya also enjoys the new equipment and believes the quality is better.
“The computers I was excited about,” Garnica-Raya said. “They’re a lot faster than anything else we’ve used, especially the iPads.”
Carpenter believes the new equipment will draw in students for years to come.
“They’re like, ‘Oh my gosh, they got all this new equipment. What are they using it for?’” Carpenter said.
Garnica-Raya feels the equipment that was received doesn’t have any negative factors.
“I don’t think there’s really any downside to it,” Garnica-Raya said.
Gilliland has some ideas about what equipment could be needed in the future.
“It would be nice to eventually invest in some audio equipment for the cameras,” Gilliland said.