Here at Linganore High School (LHS), Lancer Media publishes the online student newspaper, The Lance, which keeps the community apprised of campus events and issues that matter to students.
The Journalism course offered at LHS is open to grades 9-12 and can be taken as many times as one wishes, and with that, there is an opportunity of advancing one’s role in the class and earning honors-level credit.
Journalism 1 students are considered J1 and solely focus on writing articles, recording podcasts or creating videos. From there, students become editors and may even earn the title of Editor-in-Chief, depending on skills, experience and dedication.

As a journalism student, our staff write articles and produce videos and podcasts based on six different categories: Sports, Arts & Entertainment, News, Features, Opinion and Lancer Spotlights.
Topics for articles, podcasts and videos are all student-selected. Lancer Media staff is able to brainstorm and discuss different article ideas in any category, with the rest of the Lancer Media staff. Students give feedback and help their peers decide on which article would be most interesting and appealing to the Linganore community.
LHS senior Caroline Tucker has taken the class for four semesters. Tucker has produced multiple articles and podcasts with other staff members. She enjoys how everyone in the class gets along and how everyone is supportive and helpful to one another.
“I really love how you can work with other peers for articles and podcasts,” Tucker said. “I love that it feels like we are working for a real newspaper, even though it is just for our school. I also love how much everyone gets along with each other; it feels like we are all family.”
One of the categories students produce is a Lancer Spotlight, which is a short article focusing on a local event at Linganore or the surrounding community. An example could be a school basketball game or even a band playing downtown.
Monthly articles provide an opportunity for students to delve deeper into a topic of personal interest
As part of their articles, students may conduct research or interviews to get more information about the topic. These interviews can be students at LHS or other people in more professional settings, all depending on what the article is about.
Students interested in sports may produce a piece on a national sport or a Linganore sporting event like a football game or track meet.
Arts & Entertainment is one of the more popular categories with staff and can include reviews of movies, TV shows, music, books and even video games. Reporters may share their experience and opinions of the media as a whole.
Any article written about from one’s own perspective is considered an Opinion. These articles require a lot of research as well as pros and cons, or arguments and counterarguments, of the topic one chooses to discuss. To get different outlooks on your topic, our staff likes to interview people throughout LHS or in our community with opposing opinions; this helps our articles provide a more interesting and overarching view of what may be controversial topics.
News can consist of anything that is happening in the direct community or around the world that others would care about. This may include something one might see on a news program on television or a topic discussed in the halls of Linganore. Students have written about the far-reaching effects of Hurricane Helene that hit the U.S. a few months ago, the most recent election or changes to Frederick County Public Schools’ (FCPS) dual enrollment program. .
The Features category explores topics at a deeper level. Articles in the Features category have included artificial intelligence in schools, LHS students’ opinions on abortion rights and even the plight of endangered species.
Best of Student Newspapers Online (SNO) hosts our website and is designed to recognize outstanding students in Journalism, from high school and college. “Best of SNO” awards are given to students who have produced excellent work and put a lot of time and effort into their articles. Each year, Best of SNO receives up to 16 thousand submissions, and only 10 percent of these receive a Best of SNO recognition. The caliber of journalism produced by Lancer Media staff has earned this distinction each year.
The Lance has also earned a “Distinguished Site” award every year since 2016, rewarding its staff for their excellence. The staff accomplishes this goal by completing six badges, covering various parameters of news publication that Best of SNO requires to be considered distinguished.
Senior Kiefer Ely has taken the class for five semesters at LHS. He expressed that he has made life-long friends from this class, and he wanted everyone to have the same experience.
“This class is so creative; if I wanted to take a break from writing, I can make videos or podcasts, which is another fun option during this class,” said Ely.
Lancer Media staff work hard to ensure that these badges are completed and love to celebrate their accomplishments big and small.
Being a part of Lancer Media provides students the opportunity to learn new skills and communicate with peers. Students build leadership skills through providing feedback, joining up to write articles and offering other support to their peers as needed.
The staff, who are drawn from all parts of Linganore, prioritize constantly motivating each other and celebrating their efforts throughout the year. They look forward to having other prospective journalists join their ranks No prior experience is needed.
“Pretty much every long-term friend I have made in high school has been from this class one way or another,” Ely said.
Check out the Linganore student newspaper at lhslance.org and follow us on all social media @LHSJournalism!
“I would really love to see more people in this class, it would make it even more enjoyable than it already is,” said Ely.