Ask any Broken Bow graduate of a certain age if they remember the Savage Signal and you’re likely to be met with a smile and a nod. For several decades, Journalism class was a popular elective in the BBHS curriculum, and the Savage Signal was the banner of our student newspaper. It was a mostly whimsical offering, full of song dedications and sports results, but was always eagerly consumed by the student body upon each publication.
In the 1990s, BBHS also added broadcasting as an elective and produced both live and pre-recorded student telecasts which were viewed inside the classrooms and were often also broadcast to a local audience via the local low power television channel, KLOP-TV. The broadcasting program was named Savage Outlook for several years, a name which will also bring smiles to certain faces.
Over the past decade and a half, our journalism and broadcasting programs at Broken Bow High School have gone defunct. School administrators, recognizing the importance of these skills in today’s content-driven society, are pleased to again offer both classes as electives during the upcoming school year. Journalism 1 and Broadcasting 1 courses are now enrolling students for the 2024-25 school year. Both classes are available to students in grades 9-12 and are approved electives for Oklahoma Promise. Broadcasting 1 is limited to twelve student slots.
Students wishing to select Journalism 1 as an elective should contact their counselor, Mrs. Marissa Walls mwalls@bbisdapp.org or Mrs. Candi Trent ctrent@bbisdapp.org, to request a schedule change. Students wishing to enroll in Broadcasting 1 should email a letter of interest to media@bbisdapp.org. While Journalism 1 and Broadcasting 1 are separate classes, they will collectively be known as Savage Signal, collaborating to publish student-produced digital content relative to Broken Bow Public Schools. Students wishing to enroll in Broadcasting 1 are strongly urged to consider also enrolling in Journalism 1. The classes will be available in back-to-back hours (currently scheduled for 3rd and 4th Hours) and are led by the same team of instructors.
Mrs. Ashlei Hanks will serve as Publisher of the Savage Signal and Mr. Skip Copeland will serve as its Editor-in-Chief and primary instructor. Two other members of the school media team, Mr. Chris Chandler and Mrs. Shellye Copeland, will also serve as Savage Signal Editors and will help instruct certain areas of the curriculum. Collectively, this group has several decades of media-related experience. The team will utilize Microsoft Office 365 and Adobe Creative Cloud applications to instruct students on how to write, edit and produce digital content for publication on the internet.
Research, planning and design is almost complete on a new green-screen digital studio to be housed in the north wing of the high school building, with construction set to begin very soon. Students will be introduced to the latest technology available to content creators and will have an opportunity to learn valuable skills from seasoned professionals while utilizing the new digital studio and equipment to create their own content.