Cali Warren is a senior at MVHS and the senior editor of Voicing The View. She is an active participant in Library Club, the Yearbook Committee, and the Civil Rights Team Project, as well as holding positions as NHS secretary and Student Council treasurer. She also has an internship position with the local newspaper, The Republican Journal, and plans to pursue journalism as a career. Cali is passionate about writing all sorts of stories, especially human interest and editorials.

Lacey Trisa Blakesley is a senior at MVHS, who resides in Brooks. She focuses on the most creative aspects of Voicing the View and has had her stories and artworks published in several different formats. Lacey has extensive experience in artwork and storytelling through the following she’s built on the art-sharing website DeviantArt, which she’s been working on for about five years. She values her projects very much, coming up with new and creative ideas for the writing and art she does in her spare time. Lacey is passionate about the paper’s creativity and will focus on design layouts, advertisements, and creating comics and artwork.

Jasmine McKay is a senior at Mount View High School who has a passion for reading and writing, which lead her to become an editor and writer for the school newspaper. She hopes to use her skills to deliver articles that share the opinions of both faculty and students on different matters in regards to Mount View and beyond.

Ms. Debbie Callahan is in her fourth year of teaching here at Mount View High School and is now the advisor for Voicing the View as she adds Journalism to her repertoire of classes. As the published author of four books, Ms. Callahan has a distinct love of writing and participated in her high school newspaper, as well as having college journalism experience. She hopes to foster a love of research, reporting, and writing in her students. In addition to teaching the class, she oversees the Newspaper Club to welcome other enthusiastic writers to submit stories for publication online and in print.

By Cali Warren

Ms. Callahan has “loved to write since fourth grade,” so it only makes sense that the published author, former freelance journalist, and English and Exploring the Holocaust teacher is now overseeing Voicing the View. The school paper was previously under the guidance of English department head Mrs. Hanagriff, and Ms. Callahan sees the change as an “honor.” 

Ms. Callahan participated in her high school newspaper in her sophomore, junior, and senior years, when there was no online component. “It was a lot of work,” she said. She was also a member of the yearbook staff, and has had several articles published in different papers from her freelance journalism career. 

Callahan’s vision for the newspaper is for it to “connect both school and community” through its online and print versions. Her favorite part of the paper so far? “For me, it’s the positivity,” she shared. “It’s a family.” Her biggest ambition is to inspire those who want to write. “It’s exciting to provide opportunities for interested students to get a hands-on experience,” she explained, adding, “I hope students will contribute.” 

Voicing the View’s print and online papers will be beneficial for the community, something Ms. Callahan is very excited for. “We do some great things here,” she explained. “It’s a great way to connect to the outside world, or at least the community.” 

Despite the exciting changes, Ms. Callahan is dedicated to keeping certain things traditional. She “was very impressed with the online version,” describing it as “professional,” but still knows the value of paper, hence the print version. “I think it will grow,” she said. “I hope to evolve, and am willing to embrace change.” One thing she wants to see is for the paper to “be consistent” with a diverse array of articles and reputable stories – Ms. Callahan is committed to “making sure we’re a reliable source of information.”

The Intro to Journalism class is also something new for Ms. Callahan, but provides more of the familial atmosphere she mentioned. It’s a small class, so involvement in the paper is vital to get a diverse and accurate idea of what’s important to the student body. “It’s important for the school,” she explained.

The Intro to Journalism class meets 5th period and is taught by Ms. Callahan. Interested students can pop in with their ideas or contributions at that time. 

by Cali Warren

On Thursday, I sat down with Ms. Sleight, our new library ed tech, so that we could all get to know her a bit better. (At least, I sat down at my laptop and emailed her — 2020 times call for 2020 measures!) When I signed up for Library Club at the beginning of the school year, I could already tell that Ms. Sleight would become a beloved member of the Mount View staff. She’s very kind and helpful, and her contributions to the library have already made it an even nicer place to study, read, and hang out. 

Ms. Sleight said that her favorite part of her job is being able to help students find the books they’ll enjoy. “When students come into the library a bit overwhelmed and unsure of what they want, it is wonderful when I can help them leave with at least one book they are excited about.” Additionally, she said she enjoys “being able to use [her] creativity to make displays that hopefully will catch student’s attention.” The displays certainly are creative – the library is all decked out for Halloween right now, and it looks amazing! With all of her passion and imagination, it may surprise you to learn that Ms. Sleight hasn’t always been a librarian. She stated that she chose this profession after visiting a library with her daughter, and wanting to share the experience of the fun library programs with others. “Once I started looking into Information and Library Science programs, the teaching aspect (especially teaching research skills) really appealed to me and sent me in the direction to pursue working as a school librarian.” 

Before her arrival here at Mount View High School, Ms. Sleight had been an elementary librarian since 2014. But what did she want to do when she was our age? “…I worked for 10+ years with different companies in retail management and merchandising. Being a retail manager, merchandiser, and buyer was my first career choice when I was younger.”

It’s definitely interesting to learn about what our teachers were like as students. When asked what the biggest change was since her high school years, Ms. Sleight cited technology. “We did not have school issued laptops. I did not have a laptop of my own, or a computer, and I really can not remember any of my friends having their own.” It’s also important to think about the abilities that this tech has granted us. Ms. Sleight said she believes with all of the technology limitations at that time, remote learning would have been impossible. 

Finally, Ms. Sleight left readers with some valuable advice that is especially important to keep in mind while we tackle these changes. “My advice for students is to take pride in at least one accomplishment every day, no matter how small you might think it is.” That’s something I’ll definitely be adding to my daily routine.