Lamplighter Media Productions

Lamplighter’s Promise to Our Community

September 16, 2020

We’re entering a school year during extraordinary times. As a community, we’re experiencing a deadly pandemic and powerful protests against police brutality and racial injustice. We’ve witnessed epidemiological and natural disasters, and demands for electoral and social change. These are all stories that demand our attention. These are all stories that demand good journalism. So before PLD La...

The first amendment protects our right to freedom of religion, speech, press, assembly, and petition.

Our Experience at Nationals

November 30, 2019

Throughout the course of our five-day stay, we dove deep into the purpose of student journalism and discussed the best ways to reach and appeal to our audiences. We met with professionals, met a First Amendment hero, attended break-out sessions with top advisers across the nation, and met other student journalists who are as passionate as we are. OPENING CEREMONY During the opening ceremony, we he...

Still Not Heard

April 30, 2019

On April 18, we published “No Seat at the Roundtable,” in response to being denied entry into an open meeting with Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos in Lexington. In the words of some news organizations, the piece did go “viral,” reaching audiences all around the world in a short amount of time. The next day, the Lexington Herald-Leader, our local paper, reported on our editorial. Three d...

Editors-in-Chief Abigail Wheatley and Olivia Doyle working on the editorial based on their experiences being turned away from an important event.

No Seat at the Roundtable

April 18, 2019

When we, members of PLD Lamplighter’s Editorial Board, arrived at the Bluegrass Community Technical College Newtown Pike campus to cover the roundtable discussion on education hosted by Governor Matt Bevin featuring the Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos, we were told we could not enter. A man wearing a BCTC badge on his blazer approached our car and silently glared at us. Finally, one of ou...

What If It Happened To Us?

February 2, 2018

Marshall County High School experienced a devastating tragedy on Jan. 23. In the town of Benton, Kentucky, less than four hours away from Dunbar, a 15 year old boy began shooting in the school, killing two students. On January 24, Principal Rains announced that we would have a school-wide moment of silence to honor the victims of the tragedy. During the moment of silence, it's sad to say that m...

Drawing a Line after the Aziz Ansari Situation

January 16, 2018

Most of our staff editorials consist of the combined view of the editorial board, which is comprised of 14 students--both male and female. This editorial, however, is different. We decided to present our views based on gender because we believe that in order to truly understand this topic, we need to validate the different perspectives and unique experiences of both males and females.

Go Ahead and Take a Knee

October 4, 2017

After Colin Kaepernick and other NFL players began kneeling during the national anthem, President Trump said that NFL team owners should force players to stand for the anthem, and fire them if they don’t. So what does this mean for us as public school students? It means it's time to review our rights. As education blogger Evie Blad said, "public schools are about to have a big teachable moment about the First Amendment." In this teachable moment, it seems that school off...