Dave Davis, director of the ASB Workshop, advised a high school newsmagazine for 34 years at Hillcrest High School in Springfield, MO. He will post the “pitch meeting” the first day of each month, September - May.
The Future Is Upon Us: “Artificial intelligence is fundamentally reshaping high school education by shifting the academic focus from rote memorization and manual drafting to critical evaluation, prompt engineering, and data synthesis. As generative AI tools become embedded in standard curricula, the traditional ways students learn, write, code, and solve problems are experiencing massive disruptions.” THAT is an AI-generated response to my search: “High school classes AI will greatly impact in the future.” STORY: Instead of asking an AI bot about AI’s impact on education, students can talk to plenty of actual educators (and other students) about what is going on right now. Parents watching have a vested interest in where things are going. There is built-in interest in this important issue.
Lone Star Tick Taking a Toll: Almost a half a million Americans are suffering from the Alpha Gal Syndrome (AGS), which is transmitted by the lone star tick. Warmer winters and milder temperatures help tick populations grow and stay active. White-tailed deer and other wildlife serve as primary carriers. Arkansas has the highest estimated rate of AGS. The syndrome changes eating habits in sufferers. No red meat, no pork. Some restaurants are providing safe meal prep for those with AGS. This might be a health report your students could do to provide a heads-up for viewers. They may know someone with the syndrome who will talk about it. More info: https://www.cdc.gov/alpha-gal-syndrome/about/index.html
Doomsday: The band REM recorded a song with the lyric, “It’s the end of the world as we know it…and I feel fine” in 1987. At that time, the “Doomsday Clock” sat at six minutes until midnight. The clock is now at 85 seconds until midnight. The Doomsday Clock is designed to “warn the public about how close we are to destroying our world with dangerous technologies of our own making.” This is a sobering topic for sure, but also one that can lead to some intelligent discussion as we look to a very uncertain future, and if we should still feel fine…All about the clock here: https://thebulletin.org/doomsday-clock/#nav_menu
Shopping In Person or Online?: November is the month of Black Friday and Cyber Monday. So how do teenagers do their shopping these days? Do they prefer going to a physical store, or are they getting most things online? The lack of a credit card probably has an impact, unless their parents help them buy online.
Case Check: Every school has a trophy case. Some schools have five or six of them. Did you know you can find great stories there? Check out some of the teams that came before—sports, speech and debate, drama, FFA, Choir, marching band. Maybe find a particular year when your school cleaned up in sports or other areas. Locate some of those accomplished athletes or performers from the past and shine a light on them for a fresh feature. Hint: They will be thrilled that you asked.
Driver-less: Waymo robot taxis are operating in quite a few cities across the country. You can read about them here: https://waymo.com/ Would you hop in and ride in a driverless car? I wonder how many teens would? What questions do they have? What about safety? Do some research, and if you are in a city where they are operating, you have a great opportunity to show us, not just tell us, how it works.
Next? The question on a lot of minds after the midterms will be, “Where do we go from here?” The bitter campaigns, constant accusations, attack ads, the NOISE, has rattled a lot of young people growing up in this atmosphere. Some say the presidential campaign begins the day after the midterms. How do students feel about the process, and do they generally feel better/worse/indifferent about the direction of the country based on what they have just witnessed?
It Is Everywhere: The sport of pickleball keeps growing and yep, there are divisions for teen players. See: https://usapickleball.org/juniors/ Are students at your school participating? Is it perceived as a sport, or just a fun game for older folks? What is pickleball’s profile where you live?
A Better Theatrical Experience: Believe it or not, movie theaters have had a nice, bounce-back year in 2026. More customers, partly thanks to more efforts to enhance the movie-going experience. Food, IMAX, concert films, classic movie nights. What are your local theaters doing to drag customers away from Netflix and back to watch on a big screen? Note: Ticket sales are still lower than pre-pandemic levels, but the 2026 summer blockbusters helped get folks back into the cinemaplex (the Super Mario Galaxy Movie, Spider-Man: Brand New Day, Toy Story 5). Find summer box office grosses here: https://www.boxofficemojo.com/season/summer/2026/
Final Preparation: There are student teachers in most schools right now, learning to teach first-hand. How is it going? Why do they want to teach? Is the experience (so far) what they expected? It’s a great time to meet a future teacher as they make their final preparation to enter the profession (unless they have changed their mind).
