Following years of inactivity, East Islip High School’s school newspaper, The Broadcaster, was brought back in digital form in 2022, guided by English teacher Michael Augello. Aided by executive director for Student Achievement and Instructional Technology Rich Zywcewicz, Augello and his staff began to utilize the SNO Sites platform, a branch of WordPress designed for student journalists.

“There was a small group of students who had the goal of bringing back the school’s newspaper,” Augello said. “When I was hired that year, I was approved as the new adviser and was tasked [to] finding a way to bring it back. To me, it was a no-brainer to find a digital platform to house our newspaper. There are two good reasons for this. First, the ability to publish articles in a manner that makes them timely and relevant. If a student wants to cover an event on a Tuesday, the article can be published Wednesday rather than having to wait for the next issue to come out. Second, a digital platform allows for articles to incorporate many different media, including full photo galleries, interactive polls, and embedded video or social media posts from other sites. In the first year or so, we found our way and started publishing.”

When the initial group of mainly senior students who fought to bring back the newspaper graduated, Augello was nervous about what the future of The Broadcaster would look like. His fears proved unfounded, as this year’s crop of student journalists have successfully taken up the mantle.

“I am so excited that we have an amazing group of excited young writers in the room this year that represent every grade from 9 to 12,” Augello said. “They are willing to learn and eager to write. They have so much potential as writers and thinkers, and I’m grateful for the opportunity to help them realize that potential. The Wednesday afternoons when we meet are one of the best parts of my week.”

Looking ahead to the future, Augello has two primary goals for the newspaper.

“I want the club to continue to be a place where students actually want to be and where they can share their stories and interests and grow as people and writers,” he said. “I also want the platform to be more widely and regularly recognized as an account that students and community members follow and a website that is regularly visited.”

“As someone who wants to go into English as a major, it’s a great experience to write for an actual paper and get published,” senior and staff writer Jack Wodicka said. “It’s a good feeling to be accomplished as a writer in high school.”

“What I’d like to do is introduce people to new genres of music,” said freshman and music reviewer Angelina Altamirano, who had previously written for the East Islip Middle School newspaper during the last school year.

“My goal is to inspire people with my stories,” said senior and staff writer Nicholas Williams, who has been involved in school newspapers since sixth grade. “I’ve always liked writing. If I’m writing a good story, I hope that entertains people.”

Sophomore Angelina Codispoti’s arrival on the staff came about due to a suggestion last year from English teacher Lisa Lopez.

“Last year I had Ms. Lopez as my English teacher, and I told her that I’m a huge reader and have a passion for writing,” Codispoti said. “She asked me why I wasn’t on the newspaper, so then I joined, and it’s really helped me write more opinion-based pieces rather than the basic essay structure.”

“I mostly write book reviews, but I’ve been working on other things like features and am trying to branch out a little bit,” Codispoti said. “Honestly, I think what I’d like to accomplish is just to make a difference in people’s opinions on things and persuade people to read more. I definitely want to pursue a career in writing in my future, so I think this is going to help me a lot.”