You know them! You love them! Those super cheerful teenagers on the board every morning are your very own Communications team!
Every day during 7th period, the Communications team meets in M122 to film the video morning announcements, listen to guest speakers, highlight students and more. The team’s function is to represent White Station High School (WSHS) in the media for the students, faculty and others.
“We support school events [and] we support school teams,” Heather Echols (11) said. “We kind of promote everybody in our own way, whether it’s through a video or a simple picture, we showcase what the school does and what the school has to offer.”
Similar to other WSHS clubs and organizations, the Communications team has a sponsor, Brianna Harris, and is run mostly by the students. They also have a leadership body responsible for maintaining the structure and functionality within the team.
“We have an ‘E’ Team, the executive team, and there’s six of us and we all have different roles,” Echols said. “We have our team leaders, two of them to be exact, and they’re kind of like the head, and they bring everybody together as a group.”
As a student-run organization, members rely on each other to function properly, but WSHS administration is also involved in the processes, allowing the students to build relationships with them. The Communications team has worked with Principal Carrye Holland, 11th-grade Principal Marcus Jones, Brianna Harris and various staff members to cover different aspects of the school.
“We do a lot of group work as a team because we are a team and we work closely together with everyone,” Jennifer Murillo (12) said. “But there’s also a lot of [independence] where Ms. Harris may assign different roles or jobs for each student. If there’s an event that needs to be covered, she’ll assign someone for that event.”
The main goal of the Communications team is to shift perceptions of WSHS into an overall positive one by promoting the good things happening around the school. By allowing people outside of the WSHS community to see what is happening inside their work becomes imperative in shaping the perceptions of WSHS and for possible opportunities the school may receive.
“I feel like [WSHS] has grown so much in publicity,” Echols said. “I feel like there used to be a lot of bad news about the school and now we showcase the positive. Now that the positive is being seen in the spotlight, people know more about our school, even outside of Memphis or Tennessee.”
While the Communications team is still in its first year of operation, many staff members have goals and visions for what the team could do in the coming years. More involvement with the activities around the school would allow them to recognize and promote all that WSHS has to offer.
“I’d say [a goal for the future would be] having more events that we could take over or create,” Murillo said. “There’s certain limitations. If we could do more events, [we could] engage the student body and make sure that everyone feels recognized. Other than that, I don’t think I’d change anything. I enjoy everything that we do. With it being our first year, we’ve made a lot of change and a lot of improvements.”
In addition to serving the school, the team also provides opportunities to gain new skills. Members learn through their work on the announcements ranging from school event coverage to social media management. For example, Echols is responsible for editing many of the announcements shared with the whole school, and her interest in public relations has grown as a result. The Communications team has given Kaylee Sisombat (12) a more concrete idea of what she wants to do in the future and has increased her involvement.
“The first two years of high school, freshman and sophomore year, I was kind of closed off,” Sisombat said. “I wasn’t really having an impact on the school and as I transitioned into being an upperclassman, junior year, I was there but I wasn’t at my full potential. But now, I’m speaking freely. [The skills I have gained] allow me to speak up and communicate with people.”
The academic field of communications is wide, encompassing many careers in broadcasting, publicity, relations and more. Being on the Communications team has planted seeds for future plans of some staff members.
“I did not have much or any interest in media or communications, like it’s something I thought about but never had the opportunity like I have now with the Communications team,” Murillo said. “Now, with the Communications team, I feel like I have more of an opportunity and I’ve been learning a lot of new things with the team. It definitely grew an interest [for] the future.”
