The new Mansfield High School (MHS) online newspaper, The Hornet Buzz has given 16-year-old sophomore, Christiana Begin the chance to learn new skills and develop as a leader and a member of a team.
Christiana joined the paper last September following the suggestion of a friend. She is involved in many other activities and was unsure at first but she went to a meeting and thought, “what the heck?” Christiana wrote an article or two before Karen Kenter-Potty, math teacher and Faculty Advisor for the paper, saw great energy and interest in the sophomore. After only a week or two, she was named co-editor.
Christiana has a great deal of responsibility. She helps run meetings, is the backbone of the writing and edits other student’s articles. She also inspires others to get involved.
“On Mondays and Wednesdays I go to the website, sign in and I check to see if there are any articles waiting to be edited,” Christiana explained. “There’s a little note that will say ‘pending’ and I’ll read it (the article). I’ll look it through to see if there’s any errors, then once I’m done editing I type a little note that says ‘post’ and then Mrs. Kenter looks it over to make sure everything is okay. It’s a quick process.”
Becoming an online paper has made the publishing quicker and easier and Christiana and the other students are learning valuable new methods in journalism.
The paper tries to focus on school and town events but Kenter-Potty leaves it open so the students can branch out to other areas. Christiana has written articles on the PSAT’s, electronic response clickers in college classrooms and the recent change of the Zodiac signs. They also do movie and restaurant reviews.
“It’s helped my writing in general,” Christiana explained. “It’s fun too.”
Being involved has improved her writing and has given her the chance to be in a leadership role at a young age.
Christiana is also on the swim team, plays flute in the band, takes dance lessons, is a member of Tri-M Music Honors Society, is a lector at St. Mary’s and just got a job at She is very involved in her school and community.
“I like the fact that she’s doing this and helping others express themselves,” Christiana’s very proud mother Margie Begin said. “It’s a way for her to spread her wings and see where she wants to put her energies as she grows older.”
Christiana is not sure what she wants to do when she gets older but she is considering psychology like her parents, the medical field or even the United Nations. She has taken part in so many different activities and has provided herself with many different options for her future.
“This is the time in her life to try different things, to see what she likes and I definitely see her probably working with people, but yet I possibly see her in the scientific field because she’s very precise in what she does,” Margie explained.
Christiana is ranked 13 in her class and was ranked in the 98 percentile amongst honors students around the country after taking a national French exam. She also received a Hornet Award from for achieving all A's in her academic subjects in the first two semesters.
Everyone who knows and works with Christiana as she has matured, witnessed her willingness to help others and her sense of responsibility. She shows it in her friendships, her hard work and her participation in the Catholic Heart Workcamp, which allows her to spend one week each summer in a different city across the country helping those in need. Her great character has been the key to all of her accomplishments and she has many options for the years to come.