During a regular power hour during the 2016-17 school year, Potosi English teacher Mrs. Siegert had the idea to start a news program run by Potosi High School students. This program could keep the school informed and help develop students' speaking skills. She eventually chose a team of sophomores composed of Andrew McKilip, Jayden Carbone, and her own son, Cyrus Siegert. Mrs. Siegert knew they would be good choices as hosts because of the time she spent teaching them. Their confidence in their speaking and chemistry would always keep the audience captivated. This news program has continued to change and evolve over the years since its founding.
In 2017-18, all students in English 11 had to contribute in some way to Chieftain News. The Chieftain News program gave these students an opportunity to practice speaking and working together. Mrs. Siegert believed that this could be a useful part of her curriculum. During this time, Chieftain News covered a wide range of news from worldwide to local. Mrs. Siegert was also very present during this time and played an important role in the process of Chieftain News. Skits and other more entertainment-based segments were not present at the time, and the show was focused primarily on just news. This early version of Chieftain News laid the groundwork for the program.
In late 2018, Mrs. Siegert decided to change the requirements for Chieftain News. Instead of making all students in English 11 participate in Chieftain News, she made it a volunteer activity for seniors. Seniors had to have taken Mrs. Siegert’s speech class in order to be eligible for Chieftain News. Along with the changes to team requirements, Chieftain News also stopped covering worldwide news and instead shifted to more local news. With this new setup, the students had more control of what went on in Chieftain News.
2019 would be an eventful year for the Chieftain News team. The group took several trips out of school. Near Halloween in 2019, the team made a visit to Vesperman Farms near Lancaster. While at Vesperman Farms, the team filmed a Scooby Doo skit for Halloween. In the same fall, Mrs. Siegert’s speech class, as well as the Chieftain News crew, took a trip to Channel 3 in Madison. The trip was meant to teach the students a little bit more of a real news channel function.
In the spring of 2020, Chieftain News faced many complications. The COVID-19 pandemic forced the team and all of Potosi schools into quarantine for the rest of the year. Chieftain News had to shut down for the rest of the school year. However, they stayed resilient into fall 2020. In the fall of 2020, Chieftain News returned, but with some more rules. The team was now forced to wear masks at all times, including during filming. Despite the difficulties they faced, Chieftain News was able to unite Potosi schools during these hard times. During that year, high school and elementary school students were not allowed to be near each other, but they both watched the same Chieftain News program and had something connecting them.
In the spring of 2021, Chieftain News launched a new program. This program had the team traveling all over Potosi and making videos covering different pieces of Potosi's history. These videos were used by Mrs. Hawes in her 4th grade curriculum, and they are still being used today. The team's commitment to these videos is just one way to show how Chieftain News is an incredibly influential part of Potosi Schools.
Chieftain News still had harder times to face. In the fall of 2021, Chieftain News had to stop operations. This unfortunate event happened due to the lack of senior students that were willing to be a part of the Chieftain News team. Chieftain News would stay inactive until 2023.
In 2023, three seniors volunteered to restart the Chieftain News program. This new team was composed of Mrs. Siegert’s daughter, Wynne, along with Gavin Wunderland and Kadin Walsh. This team not only brought back, but revamped the Chieftain News formula. They used more locations around the school for different segments of the show. Strong editing skills were also a quality of the new team. The 2023-2024 school year brought Chieftain News into a new era.
This year's team includes Manhattan Udelhoven, Connor Emler, and Alex Friedrick. Something new that this team has started doing is covering basketball games. Mrs. Siegert still has plans for the current team and future teams. She has said she wants to get the team to film more segments outside of school. She also thinks it would be beneficial to feature the elementary school more often. A more ambitious goal of Mrs. Siegert’s is to have ‘film festivals’ in the future. These would be assemblies with news teams from other schools in the area and would be a way for the teams to share their work and accomplishments.
Chieftain News is a foundational program in our school. As the team continues to change, so does the program and purpose. Chieftain news will continue to benefit all of Potosi schools for years to come. Potosi has a bright future to look forward to for Chieftain News.