Wednesday, December 14, 2016
Opinion
Give traditional newspapers a chance
Abbe Murphy
Editor-in-Chief
amur1548@csd99.
org
Dear media consumer,
I know that we have been going
through a rough patch in our relation-
ship, and I just want to make amends.
You think that I havent been the most
reliable partner but, news flash, Im
a heck of a lot better than your new
sweetheart. Youre trying to leave me
for some sketchy click-bait news site
you found on Facebook just because
she tells you what you want to hear. You
may not always like what I have to say,
but I tell the truth, so please, Baby, dont
let me go.
Times are changing, but that doesnt
mean we have to. According to MSNBC,
62 percent of Americans claim they get
their news from social media, where
lousy news sites like your new honey
are constantly trending. Facebook CEO
THE SECOND GLANCE
by Ryan Pustelnik
The Omega is a monthly publication
of Downers Grove North High School
which has a student population of
2,200 and 250 staff members. The
mission of the Omega is to report
and promote school issues as well
as explain their impact on the stu-
dent body with exceptional writing
and visually appealing design. The
newspaper is produced by journal-
ism students and is designed to be
a learning experience. The Omega
prints 2,600 copies and distributes
during English classes. The writing
is based on a wide variety of research
for a broad and often critical audi-
Mark Zuckerberg claims that the notion
that his website connects consumers
with sites like the lover youre trying to
replace me with is a pretty crazy idea.
Our country relies on news outlets like
me to report accurately, and if you leave
me in the dust, who knows what will
happen? I may not give you what you
want but I give you what you deserve:
the truth.
Is it because Im not always the best
at seeing both sides? I really do try to
be unbaised, but Im far from perfect.
Im written by humans, for heavens
sake. If you are mad at me for not being
perfect, just look at who youre trying to
replace me with. According to a Buzz-
feed article, the top 20 performing fake
election articles gained over a million
more shares, comments and reactions
than the top 20 performing legitimate
election articles. The point of reporting
the news is to inform accuractley, so
there is no point if the news organiza-
tion people trust are full of lies. I may
not be as popular as your two-faced
sweetheart, but I promise that Ill treat
you better than she ever will. You need
ence. The Omega operates under the All letters, questions, or comments
jurisdiction of the state law, which re- should be sent to the Omega office,
quires it to practice only responsible room 213, or emailed to dgnomega@
journalism. The Omega is a member csd99.org. The Omega publishes
of many scholastic press associations corrections monthly. The Omega
including NSPA, CSPA, JEA, and the Twitter, Snapchat, and Instagram
Quill and Scroll. The views expressed is student-run and monitored. The
in The Omega do not necessarily Twitter and Snapchat can be found
reflect those of the administration. at @dgnomega. The Instagram can
Topics for staff editorials are cho- be found at @thedgnomega.
sen by staff consensus through an
equitable brainstorming session. Wednesday, December 14, 2016
The Omega encourages letters to the Volume 47 Issue 4
editor and freelance articles. The ed-
itors reserve the right to edit or omit Downers Grove North
any letters deemed inappropriate. 4436 Main Street Downers Grove, IL, 60515
(630) 795-8304
13
Early gradua-
to realize who has your best interest at tion gives op-
heart here.
Is it because I dont always draw
you in? Fake news sites are constant-
portunities
ly trying to lure you in, whispering
sweet nothings in the form of click-bait Kayla Lindberg
headlines like Pope endorses Donald Social Media
Trump and Jay-Z, Beyonce buy the Editor
rights to Confederate Flag. But Im tell- klin0701@csd99.
ing you, my honesty in our relationship org
is better than her flashy headlines and
fake sources any day.
Deciding to graduate early was the
Without your love and support, my
best academic decision I have made
future looks pretty bleak. With more
during my high school career. Freshman
and more people like you falling for fake
year, the idea of early graduation was
news , what lies ahead for traditional
brought up to me by an upperclassman
news is unclear. who was currently in the process. Soph-
Off the record, you actually need me omore year, I decided to take action and
more than I need you. Because yeah, talk to my counselor to set up the plan
Ive got more issues than the New York we would work through in my final two
Times and I dont always tell you what years of high school.
The process was fairly easy, I had to
you want to hear, but our relationship is
think about the credits that were already
crucial for our country. Ditch that ugly
obtained and how many more were
site you found on Facebook and stay
needed. I took an extra English class my
with me.
junior year and only needed to take Con-
sumer Education to have all my credits
Sincerely, needed to graduate. There was an option
The traditional newspaper to take the course online and graduate
after junior year, but that seemed too
early for me. I was required to write a
letter to the assistant principal. She had
to approve my outline of my plan for
after graduation and how it would be
beneficial to my future.
After this semester, I will attend
College of DuPage and take a few gen-
eral education courses so that when I
transfer to the University of Missouri, the
four-year university I will be attending
in the fall, I wont have to take them. This
is a benefit considering that CoD offers
the same but significantly less expensive
courses that I would be taking at a bigger
university. Many colleges allow students
to apply as freshmen even if they have
college credit rather than a transfer stu-
dent, as long as they did not exceed the
limit of credit hours. CoDs courses are
$135 per credit hour whereas University
of Missouri are $612.90 per credit hour
for non residents of Missouri.
Some students, may think graduat-
ing early isnt a good option because
they believe that they couldnt attend
prom or the graduation ceremony, but
graduating a semester early does not
pull me out of these activities. Although
missing second semester is sad, moving
on and furthering my education a se-
mester early is what is best for me.
Omega staff bids
farewell to Kayla
Kayla Lindberg, our social media
editor, is leaving our staff at the end of
first semester. Even though her time with
us was short, she will continue to help
out on staff whenever she can and plans
to go to The University of Missouri to
continue on the path of Journalism.
Editorial Staff
Graphic Editors
Sophia Di Iorio
Ryan Pustelnik
Editors-in-Chief A&E Editors
Photography Editor
Staff Box
Abbe Murphy (print) Dominic Galli
Fletcher Peters (online) Bob Moss
Lucas Naber
Natalie White (hybrid) Social Media Editor
Opinion Editors
News Editors Kayla Lindberg
Sophia Kartsounes
Gayu Menon Staff Writers
Hailey Ramirez
Katy Wright
Sports Editor Isabelle LaBianco
Feature Editors Sammi Ziganto
Sidney Lee
Madison Venckus
Kileen Dietrich
Faculty Advisors
In-Depth Editors Business Editors
Elizabeth Levin
Jasmine Abdallah Dominic Galli Eric Landschoot
Sophia Di Iorio Lucas Naber