The pressure of deadlines, the ability to talk to others and finding ways to communicate information are just some of the things that go into running the Demon Direct.
The Demon Direct is Duncan Middle School’s online newspaper. The second hour newspaper class runs the website. Each day, students interview, take photos and write news stories to share what’s happening at DMS.
In the spring, the site is judged through Oklahoma Scholastic Media with awards given at OSM’s Media Monday. In the past two years, the Demon Direct was given Highest Honors and All-Oklahoma recognitions.
This year’s newspaper group consists of two editors in chief, five beat editors and 12 reporters. In all there are five groups that cover different aspects of the school, including general news, clubs, sports, academics and student life.
“One of my favorite things to do in the newspaper is going on interviews because it’s fun to learn about the new things that are going on around the school and get peoples opinions about different things,” Ava Allbritton, editor and chief said.
Allbritton and Berkley Morris are the two editors in chief for this year’s newspaper class. Both were in newspaper during the 2022-23 school year. As with everyone else in the class, they started in one of the middle school’s journalism classes, both as sixth-graders.
Geo Dickie and Reanna De La Rosa are both members of the newspaper class. Both started in the DMS journalism program in sixth grade.
Dickie said the class can be a lot of work sometimes, but he enjoys getting to work with his team.
“My favorite thing to do is taking the pictures for my group and interviewing,” he said.
De La Rosa said she meeting deadlines can sometimes be difficult, but the end result makes it all worthwhile.
“My favorite thing to do in newspaper is getting stories and taking pictures and we are working on getting stories and columns turned in on time,” she said.
