Caelin Bragg
Reporting Student
The El Dorado campus of Butler Community College is the home of Butler Lantern, the college’s official student newspaper, which is written and published by students in the Mass Communications department. The students here are no different than any others from the college. The 100 building, located in the northwest corner of campus, which is the home of all Mass Communications, is the place to see what it is like to be a reporter.
The Mass Communications Lab, which is located in the northeast corner of the building, is where all the publication work is done. This includes the Butler Lantern newspaper, and the magazine, The Grizzly. Their work space is like that of a regular office building, with gray colors spreading across the surface of the walls and desks. The desks that are lining one of the walls have computers on them for the staff to work on the newspaper and magazine. The reporters for the newspaper are a noisy, talkative bunch. They are also very kind and welcoming, even with all the work they have to do.
Professor of English Amy Chastain is the adviser for the newspaper. Her office is in stark contrast to the rest of the building, located in the back corner of the lab, with wooden desks and chairs and books lining the wooden bookshelf. A natural yellow light filled her room. The space is similar to what you would find in anyone’s personal study. There’s a sole metal filing cabinet in the corner of her office that broke the otherwise cozy, home-like feel of the room.
Chastain started her journalism career at Missouri Western State University, where she received her Bachelor of Arts in Journalism and Public Relations. She worked as a reporter, assignment editor and editor-in-chief for the university’s yearbook, The Griffon.
“There I got a lot of experience as far as managing and overseeing a publication, learning Associated Press style, as well as just managing a team of writers,” Chastain said. “So I worked there for about four to five years.”
Chastain wasn’t always planning on going into journalism.
“I kind of went back and forth a lot, I spent six years on my bachelors, so I was kind of a professional student,” she said, chuckling.
“At the very end, when I was graduating, I decided I didn’t really care too much for the lifestyle, or the work style,” Chastain said. “But what I did enjoy about it, and what I did like about it, was the investigative aspect and investigative journalism. I really like the point of accuracy and fairness and going after things that really matter. I was also very introverted as a child, and coming of age, so that got me out of my bubble as far as learning to talk with people. I was to the point where I had so many credits in journalism that I just needed to get a degree, but ultimately though, my passion and love has been for the teaching of English.”
Editor-in-Chief Hayley Smith, from Conway Springs, who also works as advertising and distribution manager, helps advise reporters on their stories. She has worked on more, as she puts it, “low-key” stories such as basic news of the area. She has also written pieces in the past that have profiled some of the minority associations here at Butler such as the Hispanic American Leadership Organization (HALO) and the Black Student Association.
There are also many reporters and staff working there. Tesla Bethel, Sergio Cisneros, Jack Clayton, Conner Detlefsen, Tyler Krenzin and Tori Lemon are the reporters. Other students include Olivia Vest, the managing editor, Dom Brown, one of the photographers and Hunter Fullhart, photography editor and runs social media.
There were various topics of conversation between all the staffers that day, ranging from basic chitchat about videos they had seen on the Internet, to recent political happenings. Major topics discussed were President Donald Trump and the Women’s March in Wichita over the inauguration weekend, which many staffers attended, including Chastain.
Chastain spoke briefly about the Women’s March.
“I consider myself an activist,” Chastain said.” I’m very interested in the feminist movement, and I was able to protest and march in Saturday’s Women’s March. We had a great turnout, at nearly 3,000 people.”
As the workday started coming to a close, the staffers got more focused on the publication work and less on casual conversations. The only thing breaking the silence was the printer pushing out the papers the students were writing, and the constant clicking of keyboards as the reporters continued to type their stories.
