There is no doubt that in the 21st century world, social media is important. Owatonna High School has realized this while seizing the opportunity of better communication. Almost every club has their own Twitter account to send out information to members as well as others who are interested. Clubs like Mock Trial, Prom Committee, Student Council, even OHS Knitting Club have accounts. While these are student-run, sports activities such as gymnastics, wrestling, and hockey are run by coaches. Teams are utilizing Twitter to put their record and individual wins and losses out on Twitter.

Many adults at OHS think Twitter is a good use of their time. Students can now see teachers like Mrs. Erin Halverson, Mrs. Jessica Wagner, and Mrs. Mara Thiele all use their Twitter accounts to communicate with them for school related purposes. “Sometimes, I’ll tweet an announcement for my hybrid. I used it quite a bit with my group that traveled to Italy last summer. Or I sometimes retweet educational articles,” said Mrs. Halverson. Some teachers even have Twitter accounts for personal reasons. Mr. Todd Andrix and Mr. Scott Seykora are both teachers that enjoy using Twitter for their personal lives. Mr. Andrix said, “The hard part is separating the Todd Andrix Twitter account, my personal life, my kids, my fun stuff with school related stuff and having that sound divide between the two.” All teachers agree that Twitter is a good means of communication and could also be a good educational tool in the future as well.

But another group has also taken to Twitter: the OHS office staff. Principal Mark Randall, assistant principal Nicole Adams, and activities director Ryan Swanson all run Twitter accounts for the high school. “I felt like it was a different way, a new way, and maybe even a good way to communicate with parents and students,” said Mr. Randall. It is obvious that Twitter has not only changed the world, but the OHS as well. Students can even tweet at the OHS Office. Juniors Anna Keltto and Jackson Anderson took to Twitter to try to get the spicy chicken wraps back onto the lunch menu. Junior Elena Bueltel even tweeted at Mr. Randall about a weather hazard, all which elicited a tweeted reply from the principal himself.

Mr. Jeff Miller, assistant principal at the OHS, is one of the few office workers that has not participate in the Twitter movement. “I haven’t really seen what people need to know from me that I need to use Twitter,” said Mr. Miller. “I have decided that, at this point, I have a lot of pulls to my time, and I use those for those things as opposed to taking the time to Tweet. I don’t know if it’s a valuable use of my time.”

Twitter has taken OHS by storm. The use of social media, not only Twitter, is an important skill in the 21st century world. Mr. Miller said, “I understand why you want to Tweet it. It’s part of the whole culture now.” It has helped the OHS with clubs and communication with everyone out there who is interested. “I’m hoping that it’s just a way to communicate information,” said Mr. Randall. No one can deny that the OHS would not be the same without Twitter.