THE students taking over the Comet this month have been busy preparing for the challenge ahead.

A team from North Hertfordshire College (NHC) will be taking the reins of the newspaper and website later this May.

And in preparation, Suzanne Heaven – head of magazines for the Comet’s parent company Archant – has led their first mentoring session.

She worked with the students to find out more about each individual’s skills, interests and experiences in order to designate each one a specialist role.

The team have been designated the roles of journalism, social media, photography, web design, digital animation, graphic design, video capture and editing and selling advertising space.

“Anyone who has a negative view about young adults would have a much more positive opinion if they were with me seeing these students working,” said Suzanne.

She also worked with the group to progress their marketing campaign, which will promote NHC to future students this summer.

The students have agreed on the strapline ‘take your future to the next level’ and will now work on finalising the different elements of the campaign.

“I was impressed with the interaction and ideas all the students could put forward with great confidence,” said Suzanne.

“They are very clear about their target market and campaign theme and seem to relish knowing they are in control of such a significant project.

“I am already confident they will find the whole Big Student Takeover experience valuable.”

Next week, the students will undertake a mentoring session with Archant’s videographer James Hustler, honing video capture and editing skills as well learning as how to interview people on camera.