While the 1980s continued to see advertisements and sports highlights, there was an increased immersion of extracurricular activities, such as the Debate Team and Student Council elections–both of which are still major student organizations today. On one hand, staff writers wrote about trends new to the ‘80s, like the “skinhead” hairstyle, and on the other hand, relatable, timeless content such as “The Senior Hunt for a Prom Date.”

There was also an increase in opinion writing, with pieces such as “No Time to Eat” and “Don’t Pile Up Tests.” Sure sounds familiar to the issues our students deal with today. Perhaps we need a new plea for a second wrap line. Additionally, the newspaper title was referred to as “The Silver Lance” in the mid and late 1980s, and each print issue frequently alternated the logo. Of course, “The Silver Lance” would not have been as iconic as our navy and gold one–where’s the school pride in that? Beside the logo at the top of the newspaper was the cost of the newspaper, which was 25 cents at the time.

John Housley, one of the current Lance advisors and alumni of the Class of 1987, reflected on how the newspaper has changed and whether it has improved since his time as an NVOT student. Housley said, “I don’t know if it is better. It’s different, because the media has changed. When I was a student here, the media was still newspapers and magazines, and The Lance came out twice in a marking period. So there were eight to 10 issues of The Lance a year, and it was physical and present in people’s hands. And you also had to pay for it. You had to pay a quarter for an issue, which was bizarre. So it was very present in that way.”