Humphrey teaches English to high schoolers – meaning she’s mastered everything from teaching the gerand (I asked her about it) to the realist and romance literary movements. In a past life, she was a reporter and editor at The Northwest Florida Daily News and the Crestview Bulletin. Her passion for journalism propelled her and her students toward creating a top-flight student newspaper, the Eagle Echo, which recently won several awards at a competition at Troy University. The Echo is one of many clubs at the school in which students can participate. 

 Humphrey, who wrote for an earlier iteration of the paper in her high school days at Niceville, beams when she talks about the students who have taken up the mantle of the paper. “The newspaper, to me, the most important thing about the newspaper, whether it be a printed product, or a newspaper, that’s a digital product, is that it gives a platform for student voices, student voices, where they can express their opinions, and student voices, where they can recognize their accomplishments, their fellow students’ accomplishments, and the school’s accomplishments. I mean, many of our stories are about teachers or other staff members. We know because we want to kind of shine a light on teachers who are doing interesting things and extraordinary things.” She says the credit for the paper’s success go to the founding faculty sponsor of the Eagle Echo, Christy Ellis, and the novelty of a printed paper. “I would be willing to bet that 95% of them have never had a newspaper in their home. Because let’s face it, I would say the majority have never had a newspaper in their home. So a newspaper is a novelty. And, because it’s a novelty, I think it kind of piques their interest.” The paper supports itself through sponsorships, which allow them to print about 400-500 copies for its bi-monthly issues.