Student editor maintains fourth estate in hard times
Students and teachers at Marple Newtown High School can continue to produce a newspaper despite school budget cuts.
The student-produced Mar News newspaper covers school-related issues, such as after-school activities, sporting events, and creative writing and feature stories.
Production of the paper was temporarily halted in January of this year, because the Quark Xpress program the staff had been using failed and two issues were lost.
The paper’s future was in doubt, too, as the 2009-2010 budget did not include funds for its production.
After the paper’s halt in January, incoming high school senior Lauren Silvestri, 16, took on the role of editor and put the pieces of the paper back together, after school hours.
“When she started working on it, she showed incredible leadership. She rounded up writers and got it out herself. She just did a terrific job with very little fanfare or prompting,” said school newspaper advisor Thom Williams.
Williams, an English, creative writing and journalism teacher at the high school, was the advisor for the paper for 25 years.
He said the paper might have begun as early as the 1950s.
Williams retired from the high school in June, after 34 years there.
“Money has always been a problem with the paper, ever since time began, and finally money almost killed it,” he said. “I hope for it to come back.”
Williams’ goal was to teach high school students about the basics and ethics of journalism through the paper’s production development.
“The paper is more for the students and teaching them about the process rather than the product we put out,” he said.
Silvestri will serve as the Mar News editor again next year and hopes to hold fundraisers and seek advertisers for the paper to fund its production costs.
“We have a lot of writers who want to be involved, and it’s really important to have a school newspaper,” she said.
About 15 writers attended a newspaper organizational meeting for the next school year before classes let out for the summer.
Silvestri, of Broomall, started off as a writer for the paper in her sophomore year. Since she took over as editor, she has produced three issues, using Microsoft Publisher on her own time at home.
The young editor is proud of her finished product.
“I didn’t think I would have that opportunity as a junior. It was a lot of work, but it was definitely worth it. It was cool being able to put it all together,” she said.
Next year, three teachers will take over as new volunteer advisors: social studies teacher Michael Karpyn; English and publications teacher Galen Mooney; and English and journalism teacher Gerald Doemling.
All three teachers applied for the school newspaper advisory position earlier in the year, prior to the district’s budget cut, according to Karpyn. The trio decided to volunteer together to keep it going.
“It’s something I’ve always enjoyed, myself, and the other teachers and I felt that it was important to keep it going,” said Karpyn, who for two years served as editor of the Gettysburg College paper, The Gettysburgian.
He called Mar News an important opportunity for the student writers and the entire student body.
“There are so many great things that are going on at the school, and the paper is such a tremendous outlet for all of those different interests. The paper is also an important vehicle to keep the student body and larger community informed. To lose that voice would be a terrible loss for students,” Karpyn said.
He estimates production costs for the paper will range from $2,000 to $2,500 to publish five issues throughout the school year. Some of those costs could be offset by possible sources of revenue, such as sponsors, advertising and subscriptions.
After establishing the paper as a print vehicle first, Karpyn and students hope to put the paper online.
“I just love newspapers, and I’m so glad that students who still feel passionate about newspapers want to keep the tradition going. That’s very pleasing to me as an educator,” he said.
The student-produced Mar News newspaper covers school-related issues, such as after-school activities, sporting events, and creative writing and feature stories.
Production of the paper was temporarily halted in January of this year, because the Quark Xpress program the staff had been using failed and two issues were lost.
The paper’s future was in doubt, too, as the 2009-2010 budget did not include funds for its production.
After the paper’s halt in January, incoming high school senior Lauren Silvestri, 16, took on the role of editor and put the pieces of the paper back together, after school hours.
“When she started working on it, she showed incredible leadership. She rounded up writers and got it out herself. She just did a terrific job with very little fanfare or prompting,” said school newspaper advisor Thom Williams.
Williams, an English, creative writing and journalism teacher at the high school, was the advisor for the paper for 25 years.
He said the paper might have begun as early as the 1950s.
Williams retired from the high school in June, after 34 years there.
“Money has always been a problem with the paper, ever since time began, and finally money almost killed it,” he said. “I hope for it to come back.”
Williams’ goal was to teach high school students about the basics and ethics of journalism through the paper’s production development.
“The paper is more for the students and teaching them about the process rather than the product we put out,” he said.
Silvestri will serve as the Mar News editor again next year and hopes to hold fundraisers and seek advertisers for the paper to fund its production costs.
“We have a lot of writers who want to be involved, and it’s really important to have a school newspaper,” she said.
About 15 writers attended a newspaper organizational meeting for the next school year before classes let out for the summer.
Silvestri, of Broomall, started off as a writer for the paper in her sophomore year. Since she took over as editor, she has produced three issues, using Microsoft Publisher on her own time at home.
The young editor is proud of her finished product.
“I didn’t think I would have that opportunity as a junior. It was a lot of work, but it was definitely worth it. It was cool being able to put it all together,” she said.
Next year, three teachers will take over as new volunteer advisors: social studies teacher Michael Karpyn; English and publications teacher Galen Mooney; and English and journalism teacher Gerald Doemling.
All three teachers applied for the school newspaper advisory position earlier in the year, prior to the district’s budget cut, according to Karpyn. The trio decided to volunteer together to keep it going.
“It’s something I’ve always enjoyed, myself, and the other teachers and I felt that it was important to keep it going,” said Karpyn, who for two years served as editor of the Gettysburg College paper, The Gettysburgian.
He called Mar News an important opportunity for the student writers and the entire student body.
“There are so many great things that are going on at the school, and the paper is such a tremendous outlet for all of those different interests. The paper is also an important vehicle to keep the student body and larger community informed. To lose that voice would be a terrible loss for students,” Karpyn said.
He estimates production costs for the paper will range from $2,000 to $2,500 to publish five issues throughout the school year. Some of those costs could be offset by possible sources of revenue, such as sponsors, advertising and subscriptions.
After establishing the paper as a print vehicle first, Karpyn and students hope to put the paper online.
“I just love newspapers, and I’m so glad that students who still feel passionate about newspapers want to keep the tradition going. That’s very pleasing to me as an educator,” he said.
