Between August 1, 2019 and June 13, 2020…

Awards/Accomplishments:

• The GWG staff earned six (6) SNO Badges
• Was one of only 63 student publications in the nation that became a SNO Distinguished Site
• Was one of 479 schools that participated in the competition nationwide
• Was one of the 264 schools who received at least one badge in 2019-2020
• Was one of the 74 Massachusetts high schools that used the SNO platform in 2019-2020
• Had eight (8) students and nine (9) stories that received a SNO Award for Writing Excellence
  1. Matthew Lyons
  2. Aaron Johnson
  3. Derek Tirrell
  4. Amaya Turner
  5. Emily Christian
  6. Haley Cooper
  7. Erin McDermott
  8. Meagan McCadden
• Had several staff members create new programs: Coffee with Cam, Guessin It, Movie Time with Matt and Derek, and Be Happy Today

Top 30 Articles from this Academic Year

1. Thank You Mr. DiRado by Elizabeth Roy, Class of 2021 (republished in Abington News)
2. Longtime English Teacher Says Goodbye by Emily Coulsey, Class of 2021
3. Two Abington Seniors Send a Message: ‘Stay Home, Stay Safe’ by Emily Christian and Erin McDermott, Class of 2020 (published in Best of SNO)
4. Longtime Coach, Lifelong Friend by Brady Cristoforo, Class of 2021
5. Senior Spotlight: Abington’s Cam Curney Is Bound for Brown by Emily Coulsey, Class of 2021
6. The Class of 2020 Parade, by Patricia Pflaumer, GWG advisor, and Bill Marquardt, resident photographer
7. Celebration of Life for Deirdre Zaccardi and Family by Acadia Manley, Class of 2023
8. A Glimpse into the World of Classical Music by Acadia Manley, Class of 2023
9. Helping out the Soupman by Emily Christian, Class of 2020
10. Advice for the Journey by Meagan McCadden, Class of 2020
11. Teacher Spotlight: Ms. Wakelin Joins the Math Department by Emily Christian, Class of 2020
12. A Resilient Generation by Emily Christian, Class of 2020 and Haley Cooper, Class of 2020
13. Standing at Shortstop by Tereasa Ryan, Class of 2021
14. A Clean Slate by Meagan McCadden, Class of 2020
15. Senior Spotlight on Athlete Will Klein by Jack Clifford, Class of 2021
16. What Are the Chances by Drew Wilson, Class of 2020
17. Barking up a Follow by Kathryn Sage, Class of 2021
18. A Big Win for Abington Hockey by Alison Santosuosso, Class of 2021
19. A Successful Night for the AHS Cheer Team by Connor Buckley, Class of 2021
20. Dream to Be a Teacher Turns to Reality by Kathryn Sage, Class of 2020
21. Relatively New Sport at Abington Makes History by Elizabeth Roy, Class of 2021
22. Students Send a Message: Black out Cancer by Jack Clifford, Class of 2021
23. Spotlight on Mrs. Potter: Administrative Secretary by James Mulkern, Class of 2021
24. Seniors across the South Shore Deal with Change by Linda Daye, Class of 2020
25. Looking for a Fur-Ever Friend by Lily Bonner, Class of 2021
26. Coffee with Cam: Friday, October 11, 2019 Episode One by Cam Curney, Class of 2020 and Derek Tirrell, Class of 2021
27. Coffee with Paul: Friday, March 27, 2020 by Paul Flaherty, Class of 2023 and Cam Curney, Class of 2020
28. Winter Wave Is Coming by Jack Clifford, Class of 2021
29. Wave Wear Is Coming Soon by Vianne Shao, Class of 2020
30. No One Can Accomplish It on Their Own by Maddi Carini, Class of 2023

Readership/Audience:

• 80 plus readers commented to student articles this year
• 603 people follow on Facebook
• 685 people follow on Twitter
• 221 people follow on Instagram
• 63 people subscribe to the Weekly Wave YouTube
• 23,832 unique users (in 2018-2019 there were 13,763)
• 40,038 individual sessions (in 2018-2019, there were 24,458)
• 79,499 page views (in 2018-2019, there were 62,018)
• 93.17% of the audience was from the USA–followed by UK, Hong Kong, Canada, India, Germany, Brazil, Australia, France, South Korea
• 23 countries had readers of the GWG
• 31 different states in the US read the GWG, with 82.72% from MA
• In MA, the towns with the most readers were Rockland, Abington, Boston, Brockton, Weymouth, Quincy, Bridgewater, Pembroke, Plymouth, and Hanover (in this order)

Staff/Contributors

The staff on the 2019-2020 GWG each wrote a minimum of three articles even though there were no face to face meetings or school/sporting activities to cover in Q4. Some members of the GW Digital team produced over 70 works this year.

In addition to GWG staff, there were student contributors from journalism and ELA classes.

In total, students representing all grades at Abington High School published in total 0ver 150 stories this year. A record number.

Shout Outs

Special thanks to the AMHS librarian Mrs. London for supporting the newspaper; to the many AHS teachers who showed Coffee with Cam each Friday in class; to Mrs. Keohane for inspiring several of her students to do a show in the CAM studio; to those who sat for interviews; to John Vitti of the Boston Globe who sent us tips for a good stories; to Bill Marquardt, Jim Dorman, Mrs. Poirier, and others who provided photos or artwork for our stories; to members in the town of Abington who followed, commented on, and shared articles via Facebook, Twitter, and other online means; to our frequent number one Twitter followers Dr. G, Abington AD, and Abington High; to the support staff at SNO who helped us with our online platform if we got a little stuck; to Mrs. Weber for often commenting on the online stories; and to all who supported the student newspaper in any way. The students write for you!

It was a great year and fun working with such great students and teaching them the valuable skills of journalism: the responsibility of a reporter, citing sources, understanding the First Amendment, opinion versus news, and Journalistic Ethics. I could not ask for a better group to work with and they made me proud every day. I will especially miss the Production Manager Cam Curney whom I worked with on the paper for four years, first as his freshman ELA teacher (Students Write to Be Heard project), and then as the newspaper advisor. Another senior reporter who just joined this year and wrote three solid articles, including an award winning one The Big Little Things, was Meagan McCadden, whom I had the pleasure of teaching in her freshman year. Best wishes to these two seniors as they pursue their dreams in college!

Until next year…

Peace,

Ms. Patricia Pflaumer

GWG Advisor and ELA/Journalism teacher

[edited minor errors on June 11, 2020 and added audience counts from social media platforms. Updated numbers of articles to 30 and audience data on June 13, 2020]