Gadsden high schoolers produce award-winning newspaper

For three years in a row, Gadsden County High School’s newspaper the Gadsden County Gazette has competed in the annual American Scholastic Press Association Annual Yearbook, Magazine, and Newspaper Contest.

This year, the Gazette was awarded First Place with Special Merit as well as Most Outstanding High School Digital Newspaper for 2021-2022. Previously, it won Second Place in 2020 and First Place in 2021.

The Gazette received 330 points out of a possible 330 for Content Coverage and an additional 50 out of 50 for creativity.

Earlier this year, John “Nogo” Nogowski, journalism teacher and editor of the school newspaper, was made aware of a $500 grant being offered by the Florida Society of Professional Journalists to any high school newspaper.

Once he received the money, it was intended to be used for printing of the last edition but they weren’t able to work it out with a print press in time for the last edition’s press run - instead, the money was used to sponsor a field trip and invested in keeping the school newspaper online through a SimpleSite subscription for another year.

“I hope somebody will keep what I started going,” said Nogowski.

This year’s win came as a bittersweet moment as it is also Nogowski’s last year teaching at Gadsden County High School.

After 12 years teaching journalism and various English courses including Advanced Placement Literature and Advanced Placement Language, Nogowski decided that it was finally time to retire.

“I hoped to broaden the horizons of every student that walked through the door of 416,” said Nogowksi. “Some, I think, did gain a lot from being in my class with my unusual teaching methods. I hope so, anyhow. I gave it my very best for twelve years, though it seems longer.”

The award-winning student crew of the Gadsden County Gazette, a newspaper written and published by the students of Gadsden County High School.

Nogowski’s teaching methods included showing his class a video of the 1964 boxing match between Muhammad Ali and Sonny Liston.

After the video was done playing he would ask his students who they would be when taking the Florida Standards Assessment.

Would they be Muhammad Ali and come out victorious, or would they be Sonny Liston and let the test knock them out?

Unlike many other teachers at the school, Nogowski found that teaching students out of a textbook was useless and opted for approaches more peculiar.

He wanted his students to not memorize answers but find logical approaches to the questions in the exams and in life.

“I remember walking into his class on the first week of school and as soon as I stepped foot in there I knew I wasn’t in a typical English class,” said Aracely Scott who was part of the staff when the newspaper won second place. “Although many did not favor him, he taught me the importance of keeping an open mind and always exploring different learning methods.”

Nogowski’s classroom is filled with many movie posters, random posters about encouragement, Bob Dylan flyers, and a wall displaying students’ work.

At first glance it might look like everything is out of order, but once the school years ends, every single student walks out understanding the vast majority of references that each poster alluded to.

Many students described Nogowski’s class as one of the toughest and most demanding classes to pass, but didn’t hesitate to say how much it helped them improve.

“One of my favorite things about his teaching method was that he didn’t stick to the same old boring format assignments,” said Scott. “He encouraged and challenged you to think smarter. Some assignments were more challenging than others. After taking my college English classes, I couldn’t be more thankful for having a teacher that prepared me for difficult and boring assignments. If I had to go back to high school and sit in a classroom I would choose Mr. Nogo’s English class.”

Nogowski changed the life of many students, some are too shy to say it, but having a teacher that went out of his way to make sure kids understood the writing before them and genuinely cared about them made a huge difference.

“Mr. Nogo made an impact not only to me personally but to everyone he’s taught here at Gadsden County High School,” said Michelle Rodriguez. “His caring and ongoing kindness is what kept me sane during COVID and online school. He will surely be missed.”

Nogowski has made big plans for himself now that he’s retiring. But a few things will be hard to get off his mind.

“I’m sure I’ll miss two things; the interaction with the students and those moments when they get it,” said Nogowksi. “And I’ll miss coming up with creative, challenging assignments to try to raise the game of everybody in my room.”

Nogowski was known to stand outside his classroom during the transition of classes greeting all students, regardless if they were in his class or not. He was never hesitant to share a joke or two.

The future of the newspaper is yet unknown, a replacement for the place Nogowski has left in the school - both in its staff and in its heart - still hasn’t been named.

The Gazette transitioned to an online newspaper after funding for its printing was cut.

Nogowski and a former journalism student were able to find a website that provided a gateway to publish the newspaper.

However, the website cut their free services last year and now requires a paid subscription.

“When I started teaching here long ago, I knew it was a struggling school and sadly, it still is,” said Nogowski. “I had hoped to help turn things around and at least with our newspaper, I think we certainly did. I could not be prouder of the work my journalism students did, especially over the past few years when we had to be resourceful to even have a newspaper.”

Nogowski intends to fund the website for one more year as a gift to Gadsden County and in hopes that someone will step up and carry the ball, after all, it is an award winning newspaper.

Maybelline Somoza - Gadsden County News Service

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Gadsden high schoolers produce award-winning newspaper

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