Welcome back Smoke Signal readers! My name is Avery Torres, and I have the honorable title of Editor and Chief of the Lompoc High school newspaper. What does the Editor in Chief do? She delegates and publishes all articles written. I manage the entire paper with the help of my staff and authors. As I am now a senior at Lompoc High, this will be my last year on the paper, but I am very excited to introduce our 2023/2024 staff and the visions we have for the Smoke Signal this school year.
Our editing team this year consists of one editor in chief, five copy editors, and one digital media manager. As I previously mentioned, I am the editor and chief, but I am happy to introduce my copy editors; Seniors, Sianna Thao, Brooklynn McGinnis, Mary Resendez Ochoa, and Alexa Alvarez. Along with Sophomore Eriana Carbajal. Our copy editors are the ladies who read, edit, and revise all articles written before sending them to the chief editor. Their job is incredibly important to making sure our articles are of the highest quality to publish on the paper. We are also excited to present our newest position to the team which is our digital media manager and this position is filled by Senior, Reece Torres. Her job is to manage all digital content for the paper. This includes headline photographs and issuing out cameras to ensure every article has a cover photo.
I could not be happier with the incredible ladies that make up our team this year. With there being 6 seniors on our staff this year, I’d like to highlight each of them and their work with the paper thus far. Brooklynn McGinnis is a third year copy editor, joining the paper and position her Sophomore year and continuing ever since. She has contributed lots of time and revision to many of the articles posted today. Reece Torres is a second year journalism student, who joined the paper last year as a Junior and decided to take on the digital media manager position for her senior year. Her love for photography has influenced her to take on this new and exciting position. Alexa Alvarez is a second year journalism student, joining the paper just last year as an author, and now becoming a copy editor her senior year. We are thrilled to have her back for her second year and as a part of the team for her final year! Mary Resendez Ochoa is a first year journalism student who has taken on being a copy editor. Her diligence and work ethic has made her a wonderful addition to our staff. Finally, we have me, Avery Torres, who is a fourth year journalism student. Serving as copy editor her Freshman and Sophomore year and Editor in Chief for her Junior and Senior year. My passion for writing, editing, and publishing has contributed immensely to the Smoke Signal. Although we are sad that it is these ladies last year on the paper, we can’t wait to see the impact they make this school year. Eriana Carbajal, our sophomore copy editor, will work closely with the staff this year to continue the hard work and also assist in the progress of the Smoke Signal.
As I’ve introduced our staff for the 2023/2024 school year, I’d also like to present the vision our team has for paper this year. Our goal is to consistently update our readers on the events around Lompoc High School. Whether that’s campus activities, news within the town, or successes within our community, we want to make our readers aware of what LHS is doing. While we may do features on national news or on topics that interest our authors, we want to highlight the clubs, sports, staff, and students that make up our wonderful school. There are so many stories to be told in our community and our goal is to share as many as we can. Stay tuned for future articles and we can’t wait to see the growth of the Smoke Signal and the impact we hopefully have on our viewers throughout this school year.
– Avery Torres, your Editor in Chief
