Bellwood-Antis moves to online ‘newspaper’

For Bellwood-Antis High School, the “Hylite” was a traditional tabloid format newspaper started in the 1950’s. It was published once every two weeks and distributed for free to the student body. In the spring of 2014 they launched their new website, https://thebablueprint.com as a part of the Student Newspapers Online (SNO) network, and renamed the online paper from to “The Blue Print.” The move to publishing online has forced students to look critically at their writing and the writing of their peers to ensure that what they are producing is correct and well-written. It is emphasized every year that once a story is published on the internet and shared on social media, it is going to undergo scrutiny, and it’s better to be right than first; the goal is to provide accuracy and quality. In just four years of existence the paper has received recognition as a “Distinguished Site” by SNO. Fourteen student writers were recognized by SNO in its Best of SNO forum, a website that features the top stories by student writers from its network from across the country. In 2017 the Keystone Press Awards recognized their site as one of the top student-run website in the commonwealth. Meanwhile, with an added emphasis on multi-media, Kaelynn Behrens received 12 awards for her video work from the PA Press Club and the Edinboro University Media Awards. Facebook is utilized to reach out to members of the community, and Instagram and Twitter have proven invaluable when sharing stories and time-sensitive reports on stories that impact their lives, like school delays and closings and sports scores.