The voice of BSHS celebrates 75th birthday
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Courtney Wheeler, Co-Editor-In-Chief
September 26, 2011
Filed under News, Top Stories
It’s always been there, telling the stories of Bonner Springs High School students and capturing everything from sports and Homecoming royalty to the impact of social changes and dwindling resources for education.
The 2011-12 school year marks the 75th anniversary of the Pow Wow newspaper, a constant and beloved voice since 1937, when the high school was at the corner of Third and Kump, now The Third Street Asylum.
According to the newspaper’s second issue, dated Nov. 19. 1937, Frank Schirmer was the editor-in-chief, with Bert Williams as assistant editor.
Totaling five pages, the paper featured such columns as “Showerhouse Clatter,” “Whispers in the Dark,” “Guess Who,” and “Bonner Bosh.” The Pow Wow was decades ahead of Facebook, posting “relationship statuses” on the back page. Couples were listed as “Just Lit,” “Burning Brightly,” and “Gone Up in Flames.”
A page two article reported that the senior class voted to publish an annual (known now as a yearbook). The decision was reached in an after-school class meeting.
“By a majority of two-thirds of the class, the seniors decided to proceed with the plans for a 1938 yearbook,” the article states. “Since no such book had been printed since 1935, it is hoped that the student body will support it to the fullest extent.”
The cost for the annual was set at $1.
Another page two article credits senior Nancy Laughlin with coming up with the Pow Wow as the paper’s name during a school wide contest. Laughlin received “all of the editions of this paper for the remainder of the term” as her contest prize.
Although editor Frank Schirmer said “many other suitable names were suggested, the vote for the name Pow Wow was almost unanimous.”
Schirmer concludes the article by telling students that “you may consult your Chieftain, but when you want the real lowdown on school be sure to attend the Pow Wow.”
Jill Holder has been the publication’s adviser for 25 of its 75 years and has witnessed the evolution of the Pow Wow.
“When I started in 1983, we had one typesetting machine that was about the size of my current desk,” Holder said. “We stored articles on eight-inch floppy disks and then took the disks to the Chieftain where we ultimately received long strips of photo-processed type which were used to create pages by literally cutting and pasting. Everything now is done digitally, and we’ve expanded our presence to include an online version of the Pow Wow.”
Even though print newspapers are suffering, Holder is confident that there will be opportunities for her students.
“I’m not sure that I can predict how the news will be delivered in the future because the formats are changing so rapidly, but I absolutely believe there will be jobs for responsible, professional storytellers who can report the news accurately and objectively.”
To read the Nov. 19, 1937 edition of the Pow Wow, Scroll Down.
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