Senior Julia Giovanni of the Associated Student Body Publicity Committee has instigated a new text message system that allows Leadership to publish news directly to student cell phones.
“It’s a mass texting thing we created just to kind of get the word out about things and publicize in a different way,” Giovanni said. “So many kids are always on their phones; we figured, ‘What better way than to give them a text?'”
Students are able to sign up for the program by texting “@Campolin” to Giovanni’s phone number, (712) 522-5530. “That’s just to be a part of the group text, because you have to sign up for it, because we can’t just get everyone’s numbers and then send it to them,” Giovanni said.
“Technology’s kind of taking over, so we thought, ‘The more we could do that’s on technology and social media, the better,'” Giovanni explained.
Although Leadership already produces video updates every other week, Giovanni believes that texts are more easily accessible for students who might not have the time or inclination to watch a full video every time they want an update. “It’s not that often; it’s just every once in a while, like say we had a red-out at a game or something. We’d send out a mass text saying ‘Red-out tonight at 7, be there,'” she said.
Some students still enjoy the video updates however. Charlotte Taylor’s 4th period Spanish class watches Leadership’s video updates every time they are released. “They’re more funny and endearing to people, just because you get to actually see people, [rather] than having it on a screen,” sophomore Maria Wong said.
“I think it’s cool because it’s sort of a form of broadcast journalism,” she added.
Leadership adviser Dino Petrocco believes the text program is worth the extra work. “The way we look at it is that there’s a lot of return on our investment because it really doesn’t take a lot of time to maintain it, and if those 200 kids get that and then they each tell somebody, or they tell 2 people, then the word gets out exponentially,” he said.
Although the texting program was started only about a month ago, around 160 students are already signed up, according to Giovanni. She is pleased with the progress. “We put up little posters and stuff, and we’re hoping people will spread the word,” Goivanni said.
