Elkhart High School journalism program chosen as finalists in $40,000 classroom renovation giveaway

KYTX-TV November 14, 2024

Vera Reece, the journalism teacher at Elkhart ISD, hopes to improve her classroom by making it more efficient for students across a wide array of learning styles.

ELKHART, Texas — An East Texas high school newspaper is one of only 12 finalists competing for a $40,000 classroom renovation.

Elkhart ISD's journalism program was chosen out of 500 competitors for the KI Classroom Furniture Giveaway. Vera Reece, the Elkhart ISD journalism teacher, said she plans to use the money to make her classroom more accessible for learning styles across journalism, technology and technical education courses.

"We're hoping to incorporate different seating and arrangements so that everybody's a little bit more comfortable and it fits what they're doing," Reece said. "o we might have students working on yearbook and, you know, at the first five computers, and then right next to them, somebody's trying to do a podcast. And so there's no wall break or anything, you know, no privacy. So it's very difficult to get everything that we're doing all in one class."

PHOTOS: Design for KI Classroom Renovation Giveaway

Credit: Vera Reece

Elkhart High School's journalism program tells stories across a range of platforms, including podcasts and graphic design. Reece said this renovation would allow her students to continue their productions in a more efficient environment, which will allow their community-based reporting to thrive.

"It's going to make a huge difference to where we can incorporate more community into our media, and then just overall, better quality of everything we do," Reece said.

The contest is up to a public vote, which ends Nov. 17 at 11:59 p.m. Individuals can vote for contestants at the KI giveaway website. The winner of the competition will be announced Nov. 20.

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