Many have passed the 500 Building, more specifically Room 507, and some are even lucky enough to enter. That very room is home to The Spartan Scoop, the amusing and only newspaper at Sentinel High School. Kelly Bathje, the founder of the Scoop, has poured six years and countless hours to do the tedious tasks that keep this newspaper running smoothly. Unfortunately, most of her efforts have gone to waste as there won’t be any new articles next year, for The Spartan Scoop will cease to exist.
Faced with intense pressure as to whether or not there could be a functioning newspaper for the 2026 to 2027 school year, two main factors were put into consideration: cost and practicality. While it’s only $100 to maintain the newspaper’s website as read-only, continuing the website (spartanscoop.org), continuing to actively publish on this same website costs $500 every school year via SNO Sites services, which is a platform for student media. This is no small number and is fairly costly to a student-led staff, even with fundraising.
Secondly, the question of “is it worthwhile?” was raised. This year, there are 19 student members on the staff, which is a decent amount to run a newspaper that includes various roles such as reporting, commissions, a podcast, and editing. However, no more than seven students would operate the staff as returners next year, which is unusually small for the Scoop specifically.
Yes, it would be possible to continue the Scoop with such small numbers. We could probably run the staff with just that… but it’s not practical whatsoever. Most of the current juniors that would be seniors on the staff would feel too overwhelmed to efficiently write quality articles. We aim to produce exemplary informative and entertaining articles that just won’t be attainable in the foreseeable future. Senioritis is a real thing, and it plagues the staff in the springtime.
How did The Spartan Scoop come to its demise?
During the 2025-2026 school year, the Sentinel English department was unable to obtain additional Full Time Equivalent (FTE) hours in order for Intro to Journalism to exist as an elective. While an overall effort was made for an Intro to Journalism class, Bathje was unfortunately unable to acquire this course which means that there’d be no new staffers for the upcoming school year. Even for next year, numbers aren’t final, leaving the Sentinel campus in dire need of Journalism interest.
What happened to the arts and curiosity in school?
The newspaper at Hellgate High School, The Lance, has been around since 2011 and is still going strong with 21 students. According to advisor Jill Derryberry, there has never not been a newspaper at Hellgate, and she took over a “really high functioning, well-organized program” when she became the advisor.
This is the first year that their Publication class became a Career and Technical Education (CTE) credit rather than an elective. There is an option to do an Independent Study that’s not a requirement to attend daily “to retain students who really still want to do it” (credited as an 8th period); Hellgate also offers a full year Intro to Journalism course for students to have “a really solid foundation”.
The Lance has weekly budget meetings on Tuesday to discuss ideas to write about, in which those in the Independent Study aren’t required to attend regularly. Everything is organized in Google Drive, with articles being posted every week. Hellgate also sets aside separate budget meetings for its printed paper designed on a monthly basis (sometimes longer).
At Big Sky High School, the Sun Journal has been around since the ‘80s, “since Big Sky was a highschool”. The Journal’s Publication class counts as a CTE credit like The Lance, but The Sun Journal also offers dual credit (170 “Writing the News”). Advisor Madelyn Vincent tries to “mirror those same types of projects and assignments” to hold each student to higher “standards and ethics of journalism”.
Big Sky started a physical printed paper this year for a special edition of Homecoming, but mainly focused on other projects like their podcast and video series, “The Underground” and “Eagle Spotlight”. Vincent also has reporters pull from a cup to decide what “reporting format” that each reporter will use (changes each week — adds excitement), but students will ultimately “pitch their story”. While they don’t have a specific schedule (due to multiple revisions of articles), a few students publish their articles each week, with Vincent as “the main person who is posting for them” on the website.
Each school publication runs differently based on what works, but even with all of the organization in The Spartan Scoop, our newspaper will most likely be on hold until Sentinel is able to have an Intro to Journalism class with strong enough enrollment.
The Lance and The Big Sky Sun Journal are both CTE credits (the Sun Journal also a dual college credit), while The Spartan Scoop is only able to offer an English Elective credit for Sentinel students. Unfortunately, this may also be a factor as to why students aren’t as enticed to join the staff. Without a newspaper, we will no longer be eligible to attend Journalism Day, which gives students from schools across Montana (in journalism), opportunities at the University to learn more about journalism within the job market. Yes, there are many jobs in journalism and it’s important to have one, especially in this political and economic climate.
My role on the Scoop was officially a “Copy Editor”. I edit the reporters’ pieces for any errors (don’t check, I probably missed a few). With our lovely (and extremely pleasant) Editor-in- Chief Caitlyn Busig, the staff has stayed afloat. I would never want to take her job with grueling hours and many anguished feelings, sometimes leading to looking forlorn from exhaustion…but I would take one for the team if it meant we were able to keep The Spartan Scoop active and publishing.
It’s not too late! Enroll for Intro to Journalism, so that we can end our hiatus (hopefully for good), rejuvenate The Spartan Scoop, and continue on our mission to “Inform, Connect, and Entertain”.
