FOLEY, Ala. — The Foley High School newspaper has it covered, literally.

The Foley Hi-Lites, which was stopped in the early 1980s, was revived by three students and advisor Martha Howard in 1995 after the students created a business plan for an economics class project. The business plan focused on a newspape and, gained the monetary support from a local business needed to get the paper circulating again.

“Some of our first issues are pretty interesting to look back on,” said Howard, commenting on the learn-as-you-go process that she and her first staff experienced.

Now the eight-student production staff, with contributions from the Journalism 1 class, successfully publishes a monthly newspaper offering news, features, sports and opinions. The publication ranges from 12 to 16 pages and has a circulation of 1,600 to 1,700.

The monthly consistently presents the student body with hard hitting stories like one on the consequences for being tardy (titled “You snooze you loose”), as well as light pieces like this month’s April Fools issue. The issue which hit newsstands yesterday, features a story about the new mascot, a goat named Mr. Bill, and touches on various issues with satirical commentary including a story about how driving a green colored car is better for the environment.

Building the paper every month is a constant cycle according to staff member Danielle Martin. “Right after we finish one we start another,” she said.

The team brainstorms at staff meetings, questioning each other about which student to feature or what headline to put on the cover, and from there the ball keeps rolling. Lots of chatter creates a full newspaper.

Each student is required to turn in two stories per paper, and they have to meet two deadlines for their stories. First a rough draft is turned in that, as the students put it, is covered in red ink by Howard.

“The red pen is your friend,” said student Darren Grey, mimicking a sign posted in the classroom. “Ms. Howard destroys my paper with the red pen, but it makes it better.”

They revise the work and then have it ready for the hectic, final deadline which is usually four days before the newspaper goes to print. The students are graded on content, quality and individual deadlines. However, one team grade is given for the ability to get the paper sent in time to print. Howard said that she deducts 10 points each day that the paper is late.

“The staff is sort of like a family. Close to deadline they fuss and fight, but after, they are all friends again,” said Howard.

She praises her students for their ability to put their thoughts “out there” for the student body to read, saying that it takes a courageous person to do that. But the students don’t mind.

“It’s so cool because the morning the paper comes out you can see all the people down the halls reading it,” said staff member Miranda Moreno.

Students aren’t the only ones taking notice of the paper. Their well worked execution has led to numerous awards and just recently Hi-Lites won first place for Best High School Newspaper in the South Alabama area. Writer David Thrift won a $500 scholarship for his coverage of Foley High School’s signing day, and last year’s editor Jessica Meeks won second place for Best News Story for a story about germs.

Howard has also picked up a few substantial awards through her career. In the 1994-1995 school year, she won Foley High School’s Teacher of the Year, and was awarded the same title in the 2001-2002 school year.

She was a Christa McAuliffe fellowship winner in 1999, and was a national representative for the Radio and Television News Directors Foundation in 2003.

With Howard’s leadership, there have been several students go on to college and pursue journalism and she has kept track with a few that now have a career in the field.

To read the Foley Hi-Lites find their link on the high school’s website www.foleyhs.com