SPS student-led newspapers make waves in their community
Photo By Roan Lovinger
This fall The Roosevelt News (TRN) begins its 102nd year of publication. Student journalism ingrains itself in school communities, giving students opportunities to express themselves.
However, journalism programs across the district have each curated their own unique journalistic image. For example, Nathan Hale High School’s newspaper, The Sentinel, prides itself on its yearly April Fools edition, full of “gotcha” stories, hoaxes, and satire. “It’s both an advisor’s nightmare, as well as a wonderful thing, the students get so into both sides of the paper –it’s become a Hale tradition,” stated Ted Lockery, the advisor for The Sentinel for the past 18 years. “What’s unique about us is we try to find stories that we feel need to be told, sometimes wandering outside of our halls for coverage.”
In the past, The Sentinel has covered topics such as food pantries, light rail development, the “Fairness Doctrine”, along with international issues, including the current editorial of theirs, a back-and-forth piece between an Israeli and Palestinian student.
However, Lockery emphasizes that it’s not the April prank-paper that makes their tabloid so special, but the student leadership’s benefit to the community, “I think it’s important for our school community to have a way to see ourselves, and I think it’s a tangible, physical way of seeing who we are, or who we wish to be. It celebrates our culture as well as challenges it, and without having that moment to see ourselves, we’d be missing something.”
The Talisman, established in 1917, continues to be a prominent part of Ballard’s culture, according to its students. Each issue includes 20-24 articles, and students are encouraged to write about any subject that speaks to them. Editor-in-Chief of The Talisman, Hazel Engstron ‘25, has been involved in journalism for the last three years. “It’s a great community full of people who share this interest of writing and telling stories, which is beneficial to a lot of my growth as a writer. It improved my awareness of what’s going on in the world, staying an informed citizen, and using what I’ve learned here and applying it to my life,” Engstron said.
Whether the organizations have been publishing for 60 or 106 years, the power that comes with action shapes the world around them. Lockery states, “So much of our school experience in high school is contrived. In the best of ways, putting out a newspaper is the most authentic project-based learning I can think of.”
Follow The Roosevelt News on Instagram @therhsnews. Questions, comments, or concerns? Contact the Editorial Board at therooseveltnews@gmail.com.
