A new independent student-run publication called the Atomic Cougar Press Association has started up at Athens High School and is aiming to create articles ranging from school events to international news.
The publication was started by four freshmen at Athens High School: Syles Rosser, Marek Ausseresses, Ryan Murphy and Lucas Dowdy. Rosser, the head journalist, said the association offers students another option to pursue journalism.
The publication was created to provide students with a platform for discussion and to report on issues affecting their school and community, Rosser wrote in an email.
“We don’t really want to be directly associated with the school,” Rosser said. “We want our association to be independently based from the school district.”
The Atomic Cougar Press Association hopes to publish weekly once membership increases, which is currently at seven members.
“We have The Matrix at Athens High School, and to be honest, they only publish once every quarter,” Rosser said. “I guess we just started it to publish more than them … and to just have a better publication that publishes more.”
The name came from a previous domain name, Atomic Cougar, that Rosser owned. Rosser said the publication did not want to spend the money to change the name.
“The name is definitely unique, and I hope that our name does draw some more attention too,” Rosser said.
Rosser said the publication’s first article was published Monday about a local sandstorm that has blown up from Texas.
Rosser said the publication’s physical release schedule is still being decided. The Cougar is currently identifying additional locations outside the high school to distribute the publication.
Ausseresses, the Association's financial advisor, said they are currently trying to place advertisements on the website through Google to raise money. Rosser said the group will be paying for the first print out of their own pockets.
Setting up distribution within the high school originally had some issues. The discussion for distribution stands with administration had been ignored or met with resistance, Rosser wrote in an email.
“Our administration has attempted to restrict our ability to distribute our publication, despite Tinker v. Des Moines (1969) affirming that students do not lose their First Amendment rights in school and Hazelwood v. Kuhlmeier (1988) not applying to independent student publications,” Rosser wrote in an email.
Chad Springer, associate superintendent of Athens City School District, said the school was not trying to violate the students’ rights but wanted to ensure its policy covered it. Previously, Associations have tried to distribute flyers and informative letters in the school, which is not allowed.
“It was kind of different to have an outside student publication asking to be distributed in school,” Springer said. “Generally, we usually get summer camps and these opportunities at OU for kids. I had to dig deep into our policy … Since we've allowed the Athens NEWS to be distributed at school, we would treat this no different than that one.”
For the Atomic Cougar to be allowed to distribute in the school, the publication must still follow the school's guidelines, and the school is not allowed to endorse it as it is a separate entity. However, Springer said he is excited to see young, motivated individuals.
“I applaud students for going out and for creating something on their own,” Springer said. “I'm pretty excited that we have a group of students who are motivated to do things like this.”
Rosser said he is looking forward to presenting students with a new, unique option for news that is led by young individuals with different views on the topics they cover.
“This is a new topic and a new adventure for us,” Rosser said. “We offer a different perspective that’s different than some of our older and traditional news sources.”
