by Finn J. John - Cottage Grove Sentinel

 Starting this week, the Lion's Roar - Cottage Grove High School's student newspaper - will be part of the Cottage Grove Sentinel every other week. 
 "I think it's better, because it lets the community see what's going on in our school," said Lion's Roar Editor Kandi Sanderbrink. "I think it's going to be good for the community to see our stuff." 

Kandi leads a group of high-school journalists who produce the Lion's Roar in Rhonda Turnquist's journalism class at the high school.    She said the most difficult challenge in starting the new publication was trying to develop a design that wouldn't look out of place in the Sentinel, but would have its own individual look. 

 "(Turnquist) did a lot of helping with the layout, because I had never done a broadsheet before," she said. "She was there to help me with the paper all along." 

 The new Lion's Roar replaces last year's stand-alone tabloid paper, which - due to budget cuts - had been reduced to a quarterly feature magazine. Incorporating the Lion's Roar into the Sentinel on a bi-weekly basis will give
 the students the chance to cover breaking news, learn to handle deadline pressure and get their work exposed to a bigger audience - while, at the same time, saving the school district money. 

Asked if she feels this is a good move for the students, Turnquist replied, "Absolutely. ... It's timely; but the other reason is, the students are seeing themselves in a `real' publication." 

 It's been quite a change for some students, she added. 

 "Before, when we had one issue every trimester, it was like a feature paper," she said. "Now they have to be really accountable and on-the-spot." 

 Asked how the students are reacting, Turnquist demurred.   "I think I won't know until they see it," she said. "I don't  think they understand the concept that they're really in a  newspaper." 

 In future issues, Kandi said, "my goal is to have less `fluff stuff' and more news. I mean, less surveys, like `how do you like your hair?' and that kind of thing." 

 "We're going to have beats now," she added. "We'll have people calling departments and asking what's going on there. I really want to cover new stuff that the community doesn't know about." 

 From the Cottage Grove Sentinel  (C) 2001  Reprinted by permission