Ada High School Journalism students recently launched the app called The Cougar Call.  This app will make Ada High news more easily available to students and the public.

Funds for the app were generated from the Oklahoma Scholastic Media Initiative (OSMI). OSMI received a generous grant from the Ethics and the Excellence in the Journalism Foundation and passed this generosity on to Oklahoma high school teachers.

The grant awards were divided into two categories: Startup grants funded the creation of new online publications, and improvement grants were awarded to assist the improvement of existing online publications. Grants were awarded up to $7500. Beyond funding, grant recipients attended a mandatory five-day workshop that was designed to facilitate advisers in carrying out the planned program.

Jamie Weston is the adviser of The Cougar Call and a recipient of the grant. 

“I wrote the OSMI Improvement Grant specifically to fund an app for The Cougar Call. I kept noticing this disconnect between our students and our site. They were not actively visiting the site on a regular basis,” Weston said.

Weston hopes the new app will change this.

This is Weston’s fourth year teaching Journalism and advising The Cougar Call.  She plans to continue to seek avenues to improve the Journalism dept. at Ada High.

 The staff members of The Cougar Call also have high hopes for their new app.

“The Cougar Call app is an easy and cool way to get all the latest news about Ada High, and I hope others like this as much as I do,” said Senior Editor, Becky Robnett.

According to Weston, the goal with the app is to increase the activity between the students and The Cougar Call.

“My journalism students work very hard on their articles, and I want them to have the support of their peers and a sense of  satisfaction in a job well done,” Weston said.                                       

The app is available on both the iTunes  and Google Play app stores and is free to download.