Hello, Prospective Staff!
Thank you for choosing to apply for the clay staff! We are excited to build a wonderful team with whom we can represent TPS to our community. We are looking forward to working with you over the coming year.
Please refer to the application below for details on each position and email clayeditor@pottersschool.org with any questions or concerns. Applications are due on July 8, 2022.
Blessings,
Dianna Pledger and Misa Stanton
2022-2023 Senior Editors
A Note to Columnists:
Beginning in August, clay columnists write one 500-700 word article each month and submit it to their editors by the deadlines given. About a week before submission, writers will notify their editors concerning their intended topic. Depending on the column applied for, some articles may require time beyond brainstorming and writing, i.e. conducting interviews or research, so take all time requirements into account. Please don’t limit your applications to the columns we’ve listed. We are always looking for creative new ideas for a column (just include a short description of your plan when you apply). Please specify a single column you want to apply for.
A Note to Editors:
Editor positions are reserved for students 10th grade or higher with an appreciation for the correct mechanics of the English language and an ability to produce constructive criticism. Editors must have ready access to and availability over email to answer columnists’ questions, receive articles and topics, and send out deadline reminder emails. Please note your preferred section of choice.
A Note to Public Relations Team:
Public Relations applicants can apply through this link. Our Public Relations staff will post on clay’s social media accounts on a daily basis to engage with the TPS community, spread our message, and help us maintain a professional public image. We are looking for a Public Relations Manager, some Content Creators, an Engagement Manager, a few Photographers, a Graphic Designer, and a Student Selection Coordinator. For more information, please see the separate application above.
Have fun applying!
THEOLOGY & WORLDVIEW
Theology & Worldview will include theological discussions, faith-strengthening arguments, and church history. We are excited to see how this column develops this year!
T&W Editor: The T&W editor will organize the following columnists:
Church History: Columns focusing on the historical side of the church from A.D. 50 to the present. This can include abridged biographies of early church leaders or other ideas left to the discretion of the writer. However, a balanced perspective would be necessary for the writer or writers of this section.
Apologetics: “Always be prepared to give an answer,” St. Peter told the church in his first epistle. Those words ring true today. This column is for equipping the saints to that end.
Bible Spotlight: Taking a more heartfelt approach, this column will feature devotions for daily life.
Christian Novella: Just like the Serial Story but from a biblical perspective. For application details, see the Serial Story description under Arts and Culture.
Other: If you have an original idea for a Theology & Worldview column, let us know! We’re always open to suggestions!
NEWS
The News Section will give educated analyses of recent news and cultural events, shedding light on lesser known events to bring student awareness to current issues. It’s not intended to be a breaking news section, but rather a thoughtful look at the modern world through a Christian worldview.
News Editor: The News editor(s) will organize the following columnists and may help provide article topics for certain columns if necessary:
Political Analysis: This column will take a non-partisan approach to the Western political sphere in a time when the political climate has become increasingly toxic. The writer will follow political trends primarily in the U.S. and other Western nations.
International News: Intended to offer a global perspective, this column gives insight into current affairs around the world.
International Correspondence: This column has a bit more flexibility. It can range from focused news reports to more thoughtful cultural analysis from all over the world.
Science & Technology: This columnist will write engaging articles about the latest innovations in scientific and technological fields.
Other: We’d love to cover other news topics and current events, from engineering to business to economics. If you have an original idea for a News column, let us know!
ARTS & CULTURE
Combining abstract artistic pursuits with art’s technicalities and even some international culture, A&C will be clay’s creative anchor this year.
A&C Editors: The A&C editor(s) will organize the following columnists:
Serial Story: This column features a unique, meaningful novella issued chapter-by-chapter. Applicants with strong creative writing skills should submit a sample story and an outline of their serial story plan for the September-May issues.
Photography: Featuring photographer interviews, technical exposés, and creative inspiration, the photography column will contain a wide range of information for both amateur and experienced TPS photographers. Additionally, the photography columnist will host the annual TPS photography competition. Applicants for this column should submit a sample article as well as examples of their own photography.
Fashion: If you have a knack for finding classy clothing, try sharing some tips with your fellow TPSers. Explore the wide variety of topics included in fashion, from girls’ and guys’ clothing to aesthetic theory.
Film: The film columnist writes reviews of recent or classic PG-rated films through an insightful, artistic lens.
Cooking/Baking: The food columnist writes on delightful dishes and posts recipes for them.
Poetry: This column spotlights a variety of poetry and poets from a variety of literary genres.
Theatre: Covering anything from the latest on Broadway to tips for drama students, the theatre columnist should be aware of current events in the theatre world. Prior stage experience is a plus but not required!
Music: The music columnist has quite a bit of flexibility in covering important events in music news. For example, the death of a famous musician, music awards ceremonies, specific artists or albums, and music history can be covered in this column. The music columnist will also help the Senior Editors host and judge the annual GP7 music competition.
Books: This column consists of book reviews and book-related news, including analyses of recent publications and bestsellers, the-film-versus-the-book, or book recommendations.
Other: Feel free to apply with an original idea for an A&C column!
SPOTLIGHT
We hope to give creative, meaningful insight into the TPS community through the Spotlight Section. Columnists will use their communication skills to interview and research a variety of subjects.
Spotlight Editor: The Spotlight editor will organize the following columnists:
Girls’ Student Spotlight: As the title implies, this female columnist will interview a TPS student every month and write about her life, interests, and personality.
Guys’ Student Spotlight: This column is just like the girls’ spotlight, except for guys.
Alumnus Spotlight: The alumnus columnist interviews a TPSer and writes about his or her life after TPS. This columnist could write about the graduate’s favorite TPS memories, their current and future plans for college and beyond, etc.
Teacher Spotlight: The Teacher Spotlight columnist will interview a TPS teacher each month and write about his or her life and experiences with TPS, helping students get to know their instructors a bit more.
Class Spotlight: This column features a wide variety of classes (Literature, Science, etc.) over the course of the year, explaining the syllabus and the learning/teaching style of the class, teacher, etc.
College & Career Spotlight: From tips for winning scholarships to unique and trending careers, this columnist will write insightful, engaging articles to help inform students about their future education. Applicants for this position must be in the 11th grade or higher.
Story Spotlight: Do you have a story that’s your go-to to break the silence in awkward situations? A memory that immediately comes to mind when people ask for your more embarrassing moment? Stories are what make us us, so we want to feature some of the best this year. The story spotlight columnist will go on the hunt for 1-2 really good stories–may they be funny, sad, or serious–each month and share them in their article.
Other: We’d love to hear any original ideas you have for the Spotlight column when you apply!
HUMOR
Everyone needs a good laugh at some point during the long school year, and the Humor section is one of the best places for TPSers to find something to chuckle at. Creative new comedy ideas are welcome!
Humor Editor: The Humor editor will organize the following columnists:
Humor Columnist: If you have a creative idea to brighten a TPSer’s day and a good sense of humor, try sharing it with the whole school through the humor column. For examples of creative humor articles, here’s a link to a humor competition from several years ago (https://docs.google.com/document/d/1nckY2ZX61BGIKoVPosM_zI-YZLo6ML1r3fdzjHb_61E/edit?usp=sharing).
Cartoonist: If you have a knack for sketching and making people laugh, you might want to apply as a cartoonist. Instead of writing samples, applicants should submit two cartoon panels and an explanation of their column’s theme or characters.
Satire: We’re looking for a dry, humorless writer who can deliver such poor writing as to make us cry out in agony.
Other: If you have any other ideas for a Humor column, let us know!
OPEN MIC
The Open Mic section gives a voice to all students and alumni who are not full-time columnists with clay. We encourage TPSers to write and submit guest work for clay!
Open Mic Editor: The Open Mic editor(s) will be responsible for managing an email account dedicated to receiving guest work for clay. He or she will edit guest submissions for grammar and clarity and post them on clay after they are received. We are looking for an editor eager to find and showcase new voices and talents on clay.
The greatest invention ever!! Bluetooth!!!!!
A deafening amount of noises fills a hot, stuffy, musty, muggy, crowded, and uncomfortable office as most of the people work there are on a call talking off of reallyyy cool wireless head sets. They are using headsets without cords which is super duper awesome in my opinion. There is a lot of clicking (like a LOT :O) as other peopple are printing doucments off their coputer even though the printer is in a compltely difffferent room (isn’t that the coolest thing ever???). These wireless headsets and printers work becuz of a technology called… *drumroll* …….. Bluetooth!! The invention of Bluetooth has given people so many useful and convenient and awesome benefits that they use almost every day like the wireless headsets without cords and wire.
Once upon a time in 1994 Bluetooth was invented by a Swedish telecommunication company called Ericsson they thought that cords and stuff that were used to communicate were really annoying and wanted to replace the clutter, of cords, that were used at the time to communicate between different devices, with a cooler less annoying wireless substitute. Other companies such as Nokia and Intel (Don’t these companies have such strange names?!?! I wonder what they mean… one of you should find out and let me know in the comments!) had also to plagarize the idea of connecting devices wirelssssly. Guys plz don’t plagarize that isn’t good! TPS will punish you for it. Two years later, five companies, Ericsson Nokia Intel Toshiba IBM, (Dont they realllllllly have such weirdly strange names?!?! got together and decided to form the Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG) which was officially established in 1998 because they realized that in order for them to be able to connect devices from different companies. Jesus says in John 13:34 that “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.” The companies and people who formed the SIG followed Jesus’ commandment because they demonstrated love by making Bluetooth for all of us (love is an action, afterall.) They decided too collaborate because in order for Bluetooth to work with devices from different companies, it would have to be standardized in order for it to work with different brands of devices. SIG released Bluetooth 1.0 Specification was released an year later. By 2001, a mobile phone, a headset, a printer, and several other devices with Bluetooth came out!! Thomas Edison said “I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work”! The guys who made Bluetooth were super smart and big-brained and were able to create lots of devices for blueToooth so unlike Thomas they were able to get it to work. So Bluetooth needed to be created as a collabraatioive, shared, project so LOTS AND LOTS different companies could use it. Its kind of like the same ideas you learned when youre a kid that sharing is caring kind of ;). In 2010, they started using Bluetooth Core Specification Version 4.0, which allowed Bluetooth to be low-energy which made it even better (And I mean a LOT better :)).The year before, SIG came out with Core Specification Version 3.0 HS. The Core Specification Version .30 HS made Bluetooth a high speed technology, (Isnt that the best thing ever??) and it was almost better than every other technology ever almost. By 2014 90 of mobile phones world wide had started using blue tooth therefore advancing, human civilization forever.
Now get this… I bet you didn’t know that there are two types of Bluetooth! One type is Basic Rate/Enhanced Data Rate (BR/EDR). What a complicated name… BR/EDR uses a continous wire less connection. No cords!!! yay!!! BR/EDR sends a steady stream of data like a stream of water continuously flowing into a sink, foreveer. Didn’t I just come up with the coolest analogy ever?! The other type is Low Energy (LE).Thats a simpler name LE uses a short- burst wireless connection, LE sends short bursts of data over to the other device. BR/EDR is used for wireless headsets and hands-free, while LE is used for heart monitors and way-finding services. Both types of Bluetooth do similar things they are used for their own purposes. Basically both mean that we don’t need those cords anymore. Personally I’m so grateful for airpods because before there was airpods I had to use my earbuds but they ALWAYS got tangled and it was so easy to break them. :’( (but now I’m not sad anymore because I have Bluetooth airpods!) Yayyyyyy!!!!!!!!
Bluetooth has benefited us in soooo many awesomely amazing incredible ways,one way people have been benefited by it is by being able to wirelessly connect devices without any cost at all. For instance, a phone can be wirelessly connected to a car so that hansfree can be used. This befits people so they can talk on the phone without even having to pull their phone out of their pocket and then type and search for stuff and take a long time doing things like that which makes driving safer because they are not distrcted by holding their phone. So then you can use your phone while driving which is awesomeeee and a really good benefit. a ipad can also be connected to a keyboard by using blue tooth, so that people can type on a keyboard, instead of using the keyboard, that pops up on the screen. This benefits people, because it makes it easier and faster to type, and it is also less strenuous on their hands. The benefit bluetooths have give people had made their lives so much easier than it would have been without Bluetooth and if we still had all those super annoying cords. Who even thought that cords would be a good idea at all??? I dont know why they didn’t use Bluetooth from the start
These days, many people probably use Bluetooth almost everyday, without thinking about how much it has changed their lives. (Isn’t that cool?!?!?!?!) As a result of Bluetooth, people have less untidiness (Just think of all those cords youd have…) in their houses than they would have had if Bluetooth had not been invented. How does anyone even think of these things???? Even though it is a fairly new invienton it has already, impcted us in many many many incredible amaaaaazying awesome cool ways it will probably continue to make life so amazingly awesome people even more in the many many many many years to come!!!!!! Therefore, the world has changed for the better forever and ever and without Bluetooth wed probably be fighting in wars everyday for the rest of our lives. In conclsion think of Bluetooth whenever you use it because it changed your life in so many ways.
Thanks for reading! And dont forget to check out my oteher articles!!!!! Also please follow me on forums Im trying to get 100 followers soon thanks bye ;)!!! Adios! Auf Wiedersehen! Au Revoir! Adeus! さようなら!! xoxo
works cited
Jesus. Bible. NIV
Thomas Edison An Awesome Quote by Him. From sometime during his life!
image Credit: the internet