After three years on The Prowler, I have witnessed many different staffs and leadership holders. The newspaper has always been open to everyone who wanted to join. But is it time for a change?

Throughout the years, recruitment numbers have varied from as low as 15 to as high as 30. Oftentimes, we even come to the point where we have to choose between people. We have to choose between only a name.

I believe The Prowler should implement an application process in the future. Installing an application ensures that we can have a strong workforce.

Although this might mean we lose some people throughout the registration process. Do we even want them on our staff if they do not have the will power to fill out an application? If they cannot fill out an application, how are they going to contribute to our paper? The answer is they will not. 

76% of job seekers want to know how long it will take to fill out an application before they apply. Why should it matter? I would rather have the 24% that took the effort to fill out a simple application. 

As an editor of The Prowler, I do not want someone who is not serious on our staff. Someone who takes journalism as a filler class typically treats it like one. Personally, journalism is a great class and a student who views it as a “filler” course loses all my respect. If The Prowler implemented an application system, it would give me the reassurance that I need as a leader to move forward into next year.

Furthermore, this class should be preparing students for the future. 92% of people who click “apply” on a corporate application do not complete their job application. We should be teaching our students to be the other 8%. Teenagers need to learn to follow-through. Implementing an application process will further help the student in the future and our newspaper.

Despite the fact that this is an extra step to joining The Prowler, a truly committed student journalist would see it as a stepping stone to something greater. Quite frankly, those are the ones I want on The Prowler staff.

While The Prowler is not requiring an application next year, it should be revisited in the near future. The unmatched benefits that it brings are just too good to ignore. We may lose a few people in the process, but we will gain a committed, driven staff that will allow The Prowler to truly thrive.

The factor that made me decide between taking newspaper or yearbook my freshman year is the fact that I was intimidated by the yearbook’s application requirement. Thanks to this, I have been able to do so much through The Prowler.

The Prowler has always been a place where everyone is welcome no matter their experience, grade, or interests. If we add an application, we would be limiting the people who join and lose out on potential great writers.

While some people argue that an application can filter out people who will not be fully committed, it will also filter out people who may not be sure about journalism but end up loving it. 

As editor-in-chief, I have seen a ton of students who originally took this class as a filler and end up loving it. Some even later became editors or pursued journalism in college. If we had an application, we would miss out on tons of students like while decreasing the class size.

If the class size were to decrease, so would our exposure in school because the less people that are on the staff, the less people are likely to find out about it. This decrease would also decrease the amount of stories we post, which affects the publication as a whole.

I personally recommend every person I know to take journalism, not because they may want to pursue it, but because it lets you develop in a way that no other class does. Whether its learning time management skills or being involved in school and the community on a whole different level, these opportunities should not be limited.

Journalism is all about diverse perspectives and experiences, and requiring an application might repel students who lack the confidence to apply. Having these diverse opinions encourages a broader reach of stories and contributes to a deeper level of coverage.

This extra step is more than a filter but instead a barrier for new writers. As the newspaper continues, I want nothing more than to continue the diverse variety of storytelling we encourage in The Prowler by allowing all students to by not having an application.

The Prowler will not require an application next year and hopefully will not in the next few years either. The benefits that come from having people of all types of backgrounds, confidence levels, and experiences can create a staff that writes highly compelling stories.