With the start of the school year still weeks away, staff members of the Hayes High School newspaper, The Talisman, are already preparing for the publication’s first edition and expansion into video content.

Talisman advisor and journalism teacher Julieanne McClain said Thursday that students on the paper’s staff spent four full days this week taking part in summer training, which involved instruction, team-building activities, and planning for the upcoming school year.

“It’s a really important part of our process because this way, students are able to spend a large amount of time getting to know each other, and we can hit the ground running on the first day of school,” McClain said.

McClain said some of the writers will begin working on their initial assignments before school begins on Aug. 16, but most of the students won’t start working outside the training until the first day of school.

This year the paper plans a large expansion into YouTube, Threads, and more video content.

“The past couple of years have included a lot of adjustments due to the COVID-19 pandemic,” McClain said. “This year, I feel like we are finally able to move past that and can focus instead on how we want to grow the program, rather than putting all of our efforts into maintaining the status quo. We have a lot of exciting plans for this year, including beginning a broadcast program and expanding our podcast. I also have a great team of editors who are ready to lead this year’s group to what will hopefully be our most successful year ever.”

Grace Metz, The Talisman’s editor-in-chief, said Wednesday that she’s looking forward to working with the team.

“It’s one of our largest staffs that we’ve ever had,” Metz said. “We have an amazing staff of writers, photographers, and super talented people joining. I’m looking forward to the diversity of content. We just finished our brainstorming meeting. … I’m excited for the passion that everyone has for this big project.”

Metz attributes the high participation to a desire from students be more involved.

“I think it proves that more people want to have a voice in their schools. It’s really indicative of that,” she said.

Metz, a senior, said she’s excited for the year to come even if it will be her last with the paper.

“I love writing journalistically,” Metz said. “I do this because I love it. I love working with people and leading people. I just love being here. It’s definitely going to be a surreal experience to pass that torch … but I have full confidence in whoever is going to take up my position. This is a very capable group of people, but ultimately, I’m enjoying the time that I spend with them.”

Colin Crisp, a senior, is The Talisman’s director of multimedia and is helping to organize the publication’s expansion into more video and social media.

“The staff is almost completely new,” Crisp said. “I’m trying to show them the ropes of the things they didn’t know yet — script writing or editing. Showing them what goes into the process of making a broadcast. Last year was laying foundation for what we could do this year. Now, we have a group of people who really know what they’re doing. We have a lot of ideas we’re excited to execute.”

Crisp said he’s enjoyed stepping into a leadership role this year and hopes to study broadcast journalism after high school.

“I’m really passionate about it,” Crisp said. “I plan on broadcast journalism being my career in college as I go on. I’ve always enjoyed being a leader in the room. I try my best to teach and give people positivity. That’s why I do this. Both for my team or people who go to my video. … I like being able to spread the positivity of such things.”

Crisp said he hopes the new video content from The Talisman will help the students at Hayes learn more about each other.

“I think it’ll make the school feel like a more unified body,” he said. “I think we have one of the most diverse rooms of students in the school in this room. (Like) athletes and theater kids. Everybody will tune into the same thing and learn about all the different aspects of Delaware. It’ll make it feel like ‘we are Hayes,’ instead of ‘we are Hayes athletes’ (for example). It’s why I do it.”

Glenn Battishill can be reached at 740-413-0903.