Meet The Seniors

Quen Barkyoumb

Quen has a passion for writing. Next year he will be attending the Kansas City Art Institute in order to pursue a degree in Creative Writing and Digital Film and Photography. Quen has already had a poetry novel published called Accolades that can be purchased at Barnes & Nobel and Amazon. Quen's photography has been featured in art shows and galleries in the KC metro area. 

Elena Gray

Elena is special because she has been in the Convergence Journalism class for three years while most of us have only been in it for two. Her favorite responsibly is hosting ONW NOW and sharing news with the student body. She participated in the class trip to Los Angeles to compete in STN, a conference where students from around the nation compete to produce the best news show. Next year Elena plans to attend the University of Nebraska to pursue an accounting degree.

Tyler Soetaert

Tyler has also been in the Convergence Journalism class for three years. Tyler's packages are distinct for their more artistic qualities. Most include music and nontraditional shot styles. Next year tyler plans to attend the University of Kansas to pursue a degree in strategic communications and broadcasting. Tyler has been to large broadcasting networks such as ESPN in order to enrich his understanding of communications and has brought his experience back to the show. Tyler has also gained experience through live interviews with Fox 4 News.

"That's not bragging right?", said Tyler after revealing this information to me.

Isabel Lauby

Isabel is one of our few students who has taken their passion across national boarders. Last summer she filmed her experience in Ecuador to create a documentary. She plans to continue her journalism career at Kansas State University next fall. Throughout her two years in the program Isabel has revealed her interest for finding news.

"I enjoy finding interesting stories to cover and share with the student body.", Isabel said while discussing her experience.

She greatly values the relationships she's made while in the program and is glad she was able to broadcast clubs and people who, without her, would go unnoticed. 

Jack Weafer

Jack has been in the Convergence Journalism class for three years and frequently works with Tyler and Quen. Jack's funny comments and blunt reactions keep us laughing and honest.  He gives our class credit for helping win Homecoming King.

"Was I able to win Homecoming King because of this program?", said Jack when I asked what he appreciated about this program.

Jack's favorite part about journalism is hearing the stories he was told by interviewees. Jack was even interviewed for a feature on him and another student. Jack also contributes to the show by hosting and making his own packages. Jack has proudly been interviewed by Fox 4 and Channel 9 Action News about managing the basketball team and about the special needs baseball showdown. In the future Jack will attend Johnson County Community College and plans to continue his journalism education. 

Savannah Plumlee

Savannah or Sav as we all call her is a frequent host and loves to provide new ideas for the show. This year her and Isabel have become known for their comical weather segment on the Monday show. Her bubbly personality is essential to keep us all sane during stressful days. She works with Isabel to produce many unique packages about students who normally wouldn't be recognized. Next fall Sav plans to attend the University of Kansas to continue her journalism education.

Pedro von Simson

Pedro has been in the e-Communications program at Olathe Northwest since he was a freshmen. He decided after seeing the weekly news show that he wanted to be a part of the Journalism class. 

"I have a passion for politics and the media is a large part of that", said Pedro.

Pedro and Elena work together on most assignments in order to create exceptional packages. He frequently hosts and directs ONW NOW. Next year, Pedro plans to attend the University of Colorado in Boulder, Colorado to pursue a degree in international business and political science. 

Meet The Juniors

MEET THE JUNIORS

Kami Gibson

Kami has been apart of the e-communications program since her freshman year. She is in the convergence journalism program at Olathe Northwest. Her favorite part of the program is getting to host the shows. She likes it because it gives her real world experience and what it's like to be an anchor for a news broadcast. She hopes to attend the University of Kansas and major in special education. Her favorite part of Olathe Northwest is the peer mentoring program. The peer mentoring program is where students get to be in the interpersonal skills classroom and work with the kids with special needs. They get to go on field trips and do things to help the community.

Connor Bickford

Connor has been apart of the e-communications program since his freshman year. His freshman year he already knew that he wanted to be in the convergence journalism program. His favorite part is being able to work with others who have the same passion. He also likes being able to collaborate with others to create the show three times a week. He hopes to attend the University of Kansas and major in biochemistry. His favorite part of Olathe Northwest is the student body and the spirit that Olathe Northwest has. "We always get so hype for stuff, it's awesome", Connor said.

Tiajah Holt

Tiajah has been apart of the e-communications program since her freshman year. She came up to Northwest already knowing she wanted to be apart of the convergence journalism program. Her favorite part is being able to have a strict schedule but loose at the same time. She likes how flexible the classroom environment is. She hopes to attend the University of Arizona and major in journalism. Her favorite part about Olathe Northwest is the friendly people here.

Anna Massey

Anna has been apart of the e-communications program since her sophomore year when she transferred from Olathe East at the beginning of the year. When she transferred, she was in graphic design and animation. She didn't like animation so she switched classes to video. With her dad being a professional videographer. All of that tied together helped her decide she wanted to be apart of the convergence journalism program. Her favorite part about the class is the connections she's able to make with different people and how she's gotten to know so many more people and helped her open up and become more social. She wants to attend the University of Arkansas and major in anthropology. Her favorite part about Olathe Northwest is how nice everyone is to each other. "At Olathe East, everyone was very cliquey and here everyone is so much more friendly to each other"Anna said.

Sean McPartland

Sean has been in the e-communications program since his freshman year. His sophomore year he decided he wanted to join the convergence journalism program with the influence of Mr. Allam. His favorite part about the class is getting to go cool places to film. "I've been up in the cat walks and the lifts for band, and behind the cafeteria, just cool places you normally wouldn't get to go" Sean said. He is enlisting in the Navy after he graduates from Olathe Northwest. His favorite part about Olathe Northwest is the e-communications program.

Samantha McCue

Samantha has been in the e-communications program since her freshman year. Her sophomore year when she took video it had influenced her decision to join convergence journalism. Her favorite part about the class is being able to put all the packages together, and hosting, and running the tricaster. She also really likes that when you interview someone you get to know them on a personal level when she would not have usually talked to them. She is undecided on where she wants to go to college, but she wants to major in something related to journalism or video production. Her favorite part about Olathe Northwest is the community and environment. She loves how everyone is super nice and all the connections she's been given.

Rachel Brookhart

Rachel has been apart of the e-communications program since her freshman year. She came up to Olathe Northwest knowing that she wanted to be apart of the convergence journalism program. She's always wanted to behind the desk reading news. Her favorite part about the class is getting to film ONW NOW three times a week and becoming close with everyone in the class. She hopes to attend Pittsburgh State University and major in broadcast journalism. Her favorite part about Olathe Northwest is how everyone is so close.

Sean McPartland

Junior Convergence Journalism student, Sean McPartland is a very talented person. Sean won 3rd place at the annual eMagine festival here at Olathe Northwest. He put lots of hard work into this package and preparation for the package. 

Above, is the package over the Aerospace and Engineering Electrathon. Our teacher, Mr. Allam, was e-mailed by the A&E teacher about the Electrathon. Mr. Allam told Sean he should go check it out and talk to Mr. Edmonson. Mr. Edmonson gave Sean some great information.

Sean began the planning process by writing interview questions and planning out his shots. He went to go interview Mr. Edmonson and one of the A&E students. While interviewing he asked different kinds of questions about how they created this and how they planned out the architecture. 

As the very talented camera man Sean got lots of great shots using the six shot system to make a sequence of how they prepared and made their car. Sean put all of the B-roll on his computer into Final Cut Pro and began editing. The clips came together very nicely.

When it was time to enter something for eMagine Sean was told to pick his best package to enter, and he chose this one. Mr. Allam received an email saying Sean's package made it into the top five for best news package. On April 4th Olathe Northwest hosted eMagine. The news package category was very early on. They announced the winners from third to first place and they announced Sean for third place. 

All and all Sean McPartland is a very talented student with great computer skills who definitely deserved his third place award.

Video: Behind the Scenes of ONW NOW

In this video, Senior Convergence Journalism student, Tyler Soetaert, takes viewers into the ONW NOW studio to give a glimpse of what goes on behind the scenes.

ONW NOW is a student led news show based on students and events in and around Olathe Northwest. The show is produced by 14 students, juniors and seniors, who are in the convergence journalism class. A show is aired three times a week: Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.

The show is composed of news packages, funny segments, in-studio guests, and sports. GameDay Northwest which is produced by the Sports Information Director class includes information on all Raven Sports.

But videos aren't all that these classes produce. Online stories, tweets, and blogs are also posted by the team of aspiring journalists in order to gain an online presence. The Raven Daily is the website which includes these written stories and can be found on the Olathe Northwest Website.

All ONW NOW packages can be access through the Raven Daily youtube page.