When the freshman opened their school issued Chromebooks for the very first time, the first webpage they saw was the Eagle Eye News.

Mr. Glen Drager, the school district’s computer network administrator, made the on-line student newspaper the default homepage for every student.

“I really like it. It’s very cool to look at and keeps me updated. My old school had nothing like this,” said freshman Haley Butina, who recently moved into the district.

While the Eagle Eye has been around for a long time, its home on the internet is new. Beginning this year Eagle Eye has its own website, Facebook page, Twitter, and Instagram account.

The idea for the new website and social media presence began last school year when Mr. Todd Cammarata, the Eagle Eye adviser, began looking for ways to improve the number of readers of the Eagle Eye.

“The Eagle Eye had already taken an important step toward digital by starting a blog, but blogs are limited in the amount of content they can present at once,” said Cammarata, “I felt like we needed to develop a full featured website and also have a presence on social media, since that’s how the students and the community interact with media today.”

Mr. Drager and high school Principal Tom Yoder were supportive of the idea and with the help of School Newspapers Online, a Minnesota based business that specializes in helping student newspapers go digital, the website was launched last spring.

This fall the Eagle Eye added social media by starting a Facebook page, Twitter account, and Instagram page.

The fact that the freshman were all being issued Chromebooks this year made the move to digital even more important.

A lot of the freshman students say that they love looking at the website because they can see everything that is going on around the school community.

Freshmen Kara Weyant and Haley Butina say they look at the website a lot.

“I think that Eagle Eye News is better because you can see what is going on or you can see a new face,” says Weyant.

“I love that website! I visit it regularly, and even when it doesn’t pop up, I look at it,” said Butina.

Butina says she read most of them, but the ones she finds most interesting are the ones written by her friends.

Both say that their favorite thing about the Eagle Eye News is that the articles are written by the students.

They want to read about events, see new faces, and learn news about the school.

Weyant and Butina both “liked” the Facebook page, and Butina said she is also following the Eagle Eye on Twitter.

The Facebook page has been a great way to reach beyond the school and into the community, said Cammarata, and the Twitter account has been a great way for the students to provide live updates on varsity sporting events while the games are in progress.

Both Weyant and Butina said they love The Eagle Eye News and have kept it as their Chromebook home page.