Skyliner, The Seneca Scout, The Planet Press and The Knight Times — these high school newspapers are not to be confused with the New York Times, Chicago Tribune, Miami Herald or Houston Chronicle, but the positions their student staffers hold down are similar to those of professional publications.

“It’s an effective teaching tool,” said Erik Robbins, a journalism teacher and adviser for Butler Senior High School’s student paper, Skyliner. “Our kids sell advertising to help fund the paper. People are paying to have their ads run, so the students are learning responsibility to produce a good publication and get copies to them.”

Kelley Thompson, adviser for The Knight Times, Knoch High School’s student paper, said the “students have to work together to put together a real product.

“It takes a lot of work and skill to do a newspaper … and there’s a lot of satisfaction in that,” Thompson said. “The process is a great life experience for them.”

Robbins is in his eighth year of overseeing Skyliner. Thompson is in her 19th year. Gabrielle Hock is adviser of Mars Area High School’s The Planet Press, now in its 21st year.

“The nature of doing interviews forces the kids to communicate with people face-to-face, actually talk to people, instead of texting or sending emails,” Hock said. “They learn they can’t wait until the last minute to get a story done because the subjects they need to interview may not be available.”

Carolyn Van Cott, an English teacher at Freeport Area Senior High School, serves as adviser for its Yellowjacket Newspaper. While the paper does have its own staff, any student who takes her class is required to prepare an article for publication.

“It teaches how journalism works and emphasizes journalistic integrity to the kids,” Van Cott said. “Not every article gets printed. The staff reviews and edits each one and decides which stories to use. If a student’s article is printed, that’s extra credit.

“When a student sees his or her name in print for the first time … That’s a big deal.”

School newspapers vary in terms of size and production methods.

The Skyliner prints eight issues each school year, about 300 copies each time. The paper is printed by a company in upstate New York, and generally consists of eight pages.

“We get it back in newspaper form within two days,” Robbins said. “We send a copy to each advertiser; teachers get two copies; and the paper circulates around the school.”

The Seneca Scout — Seneca Valley’s high school paper — is printed on school grounds and is four pages long. While the Skyliner staff has 17 students this year — half of them freshmen — only four students comprise The Seneca Scout staff.

“Our staff size varies from year to year,” Seneca Scout adviser Laura Lugarich said. “We lost a number of seniors from last year.”

The Seneca Scout prints 100 copies, and they are placed on bulletin boards, in the cafeteria and library, “anyplace the students will see them,” Lugarich said.

The Yellowjacket Newspaper prints 100 copies four times a year, and has a staff of 20. Copies are not distributed in the school, they are sold for a dollar each.

Van Cott said each student on the staff is required to sell five copies each.

“The money helps fund the program, and we figure out a charitable way to use the extra money,” she said.

The Knight Times exists on a website, as “trying to sell ads for a print edition post-pandemic has been difficult,” Thompson said. “We have nine students on staff this year. I’m hoping to get that to 14 or 18 next year.”

The Planet Press is four pages and prints 100 copies. The paper does nine issues in a school year. Copies are placed in teacher mailboxes, in the cafeteria, library and study halls.

What do students write about? Whatever they want, basically.

“We each have to come up with five ideas for stories,” Butler sophomore Ryan Maire said. “We basically write about students and what’s going on around the school.

“A lot of sports stuff, our rifle team winning the championship, an art show, musicals … We want the kids to come up with their own ideas and write about things they’re interested in,” he said.

As for The Seneca Scout, “We like to keep it local, write about school-related events, like school musicals or volunteer-type stuff,” Lugarich said. “We did write about our girls basketball team making the playoffs, a girl wrestler … This year, we don’t have anybody interested in writing about sports, so that part has been tough.”

The Yellowjacket Newspaper features advice columns and opinion pieces, the latter tackling such subjects as student parking, use of cellphones in school and whether students should be permitted to wear ear buds.

“We have as many as 30 articles in an edition,” Van Cott said. “Sports, club activities, profiles on teachers, science … We cover a variety of subjects.”

The Knight Times includes articles on homecoming fashions, summer camps, a dodgeball tournament, sports articles, new teachers, “all types of school happenings,” Thompson said.

The Planet Press has included articles on club activities, an Irish dancer in high school and book reviews, along with sports and club activities.

“They have to do three articles a month and I don’t tell them what to do,” Hock said. “I don’t want to assign them something they don’t love — and they’re responsible for getting their own pictures.”

Not every student working on a school newspaper has interest in a journalism career, but many of them do.

Knoch graduate Addison Albert is now a news reporter for WPXI-TV in Pittsburgh. Fellow Knoch grad Hallie Lauer writes for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Both were staffers at The Knight Times.

A former Planet Press staffer moved on to work for a news station in Ohio, while another is covering dirt track motorsports. Another is writing for the University of Tennessee newspaper.

The Skyliner has a graduate working for WTAE-TV in Pittsburgh; another is doing TV work in Toledo, Ohio; while another entered the film industry. Former Skyliner reporter Allison Schubert works in communications with the Tampa Bay Rays major league baseball team.

Former Seneca Scout staffer Felicity Scott is involved in journalism, and she is writing for the Kent State University student newspaper.

“A friend of mine, Emily Tallis, is in journalism at Westminster College,” Ryan said. “She talked me into joining the Skyliner when she was a senior at Butler. I didn’t know what to expect, but found I really enjoyed it and I’ll stay with it for the next two years.

“I’m thinking I may want to make a career somewhere in the (communications) field.”

Former Skyliner reporter Brendan Howe has made a career of journalism. A sports reporter for the Butler Eagle, he also writes for Steelers Now, an online publication. He graduated from Slippery Rock University with a journalism degree.

“I remember interviewing (Butler athletic director) Bill Mylan and doing a story on (legendary Golden Tornado football coach) Art Bernardi that I still have,” Howe said. “Erik Robbins always complimented my writing and encouraged me. He’s a big reason why I chose journalism as a major.

“If it wasn’t for the Skyliner, I would have probably majored in English and gone into teaching. It changed my direction in life.”