Printed newspapers still hold the hearts of many readers, but New Ulm High School (NUHS) has been spreading its school news for many years exclusively online. That doesn’t mean the school forgot its newspaper roots.

The Eagle Online is the high school’s current news source and is available at newulmeagle.com. Hot topics and all the goings-on in the school can be found there, but so can old copies of the school’s first newspaper, The Graphos.

Keeping current news posted while allowing readers to take a stroll down memory lane is no easy task.

None of this has been possible without time, dedication and teamwork.

One key piece of the news puzzle at NUHS is Pete Engeldinger, who teaches English, German and journalism.

Engeldinger is more than happy using technology the school provides as he turns on his projector each morning to view The Journal’s eEdition with his journalism class. Still, he finds interest and value in the traditional way the school brought news to its students and faculty — that way being a good old-fashioned school newspaper.

The Graphos was put together by student writers interested in getting the scoop and dishing it out.

Its first issue printed on Sept. 28, 1916. The four-column paper’s front-page stories touched on the school’s football season opener against Sleepy Eye and senior annuals returning. It also featured a story on a new drama society being formed at the school and a story about New Ulm holding tryouts for a debate team.

The Graphos, a bi-weekly paper during its inception, talked about how its name was chosen on Page 2 of that first edition. After the newspaper staff was appointed, they felt that a Greek or Latin word would be most suitable for a school paper. Considering several suggestions by teachers and staff members, the paper found its name in The Graphos. The rough Greek translation of graphos is “writer.”

Staff photo by Travis Rosenau While Engeldinger has crates of physical copies of The Graphos in his classroom, he has also backed up these issues online at newulmeagle.com.

There were 16 issues printed during that 1916-17 school year, and it continued until its final print edition in June 2000.

Fast forward to today, newulmeagle.com not only hosts The Eagle Online, but it also holds multiple generations of school newspapers readily available just a touch or click away. Copies of The Graphos can be located at newulmeagle.com by selecting “More” and following the dropdown menu to “Before the Eagle Online.”

Engeldinger said he originally didn’t have a copy of the first issue of The Graphos until a chat with a fellow teacher allowed him to find one and back it up online.

“We didn’t have that first issue,” Engeldinger said. “We had the second issue, Volume 1, No. 2, but not the first. And then Darlene Filzen, her uncle is Elroy E. Ubl, and she was a chemistry [teacher] here. We got to talking about it and she said, ‘My uncle, he might have that.’ So I went and talked to him and got that first issue.”

Engeldinger said Ubl had another 10-15 early editions of The Graphos he allowed the school to back up on its website, but there was still more work to do in trying to track down as many editions as possible.

Photo courtesy of NUHS From the May 18, 1949 edition of The Graphos, Flip Schulke takes a spin in his hot rod with the graduating members of The Graphos.

“I did a look at the library, the public library, but they didn’t track The Graphos, but the [Brown County] Historical Society did,” Engeldinger said. “And they had a ton, Darla Gebhard, and we probably got 200 issues from them. They actually photocopied them and then sent them to us and we put them on, we added them in.”

Engeldinger said they have 688 editions of The Graphos online, which covered sports, hobbies, clubs and activities.

One notable name in particular that attended NUHS and worked on The Graphos before becoming a famous photojournalist was Flip Schulke, who died in 2008 at the age of 77. Schulke began taking photos at NUHS and later went on to photograph historical moments during the Cuban Revolution and the civil rights moment in the South. Schulke also took world-famous photos of President John F. Kennedy, boxer Muhammad Ali and several astronauts during the space program’s early years.

After the Graphos ended and the school was without a school paper for four years, eNoUgH Said was the school’s next paper to print in 2005. The paper name’s capitalization played off of the school’s initials of NUHS.

News from the Nest was the next paper to print at the school from 2008-13.

Photo courtesy of NUHS From this April 1978 edition of The Graphos, students celebrate the 1950s during Variety Week Activities.

After being left without a school paper again for a few years, Engeldinger said the school’s principal Mark Bergmann believed it was important to keep journalism — and a source for school news — going at the school.

“We were going through the course catalog and weeding it out, like, ‘Hey, people haven’t taken this course in a couple of years, do we still offer it?'” Engeldinger said. “And Mr. Bergmann, he was a firm believer in journalism. And he was, like, ‘Nah, I think we should offer it and I think we should make it up to date, what’s going on, not printed and all that.’ So I grabbed on to it and we had a little education fair at the old school, so, ‘Hey, sign up for these classes,’ and we were kind of cheerleading, ‘Hey, take this class, it’ll be fun.’

“So then we came over to the new building, we had our first year of it, it was a little rough, we had one section of it. And then we just kept going. Each year, added a little bit more, a little more content, got a little more familiar with it and more kids were interested in it. And this is now our eighth year and we’re finally kind of working it.”

The Eagle Online runs strong with the efforts of students in Engeldinger’s journalism class. Where The Graphos had many different editors over the years that may have favored a certain style of stories, Engeldinger said his journalism students have done a good job blending multiple different ideas to keep building The Eagle Online.

“Now it’s crazy democratic,” Engeldinger said of the school’s news staff. “We get everything covered, that’s why we have so many sections [online]. We have Eagle FFA and Ag., we have Eagle organizations, if someone is in Knowledge Bowl or FCCLA or Yearbook, there’s that. And then because we have kind of a state-of-the-art kitchen, we have some cool foods classes, we’ve got our own little Eagle cuisine [section]. It’s great for photography and all that. We cover our school a lot more thoroughly, every angle, than what we were able to cover before just because there weren’t many people on the staff [in the past].”

Photo courtesy of NUHS The first edition of The Graphos is just one of nearly 700 editions available online at newulmeagle.com.

Engeldinger said even when a student finishes his one-semester journalism class, he invites many of them to keep writing for The Eagle Online, no matter how tall of a task that may be for a busy student.

Despite much of The Graphos being backed up online, the school will more than likely be unable to have the entire collection. Select issues are still missing from the paper’s first year, along with other select issues from different decades.

But Engeldinger is hoping one generation in particular can help further complete the online collection of The Graphos. That generation may be using a little less hairspray now, but students that attended NUHS in the mid-1980s could be a big help if they’re willing to dust off some boxes in the attic.

Engeldinger said he has no editions of The Graphos from late 1983 to 1987 online and is hoping some collectors may have copies in storage they’d be willing to let him scan in for the online archives.

Engeldinger said any papers borrowed to him will be taken care of and returned to their owners after backing them up online.

Those that have 80s editions of The Graphos are asked to reach out to Engeldinger via email at pengeldinger@newulm.k12.mn.us or calling the school and leaving him a message at 507-233-6400.

Photo courtesy of NUHS The last edition of The Graphos, available online at newulmeagle.com, talks about the tough decision to end the school paper.