High school papers suddenly substantial
Sunday, April 13, 2003 By KATHLEEN CARROLL <a href=www.northjersey.com>HERALD NEWS
During last Wednesday's editorial meeting of The Clarion, the blackboard in Room 219 at Hawthorne High School was filled with students' ideas for upcoming articles:
Prom Costs; SARS Virus; Budget/Voting; Boycott on France & Germany; Latin Program - cut?; Why Fashion Show Was Canceled; End of the World.
"Wait, I want to do something about Venezuela," said Cherish Persaud, 16. "Right now, everyone is only focusing on Saddam Hussein, who we call a dictator. But all the other dictators are getting a free chance to do whatever they want."
A teacher knocked into an ancient desk and sent the tabletop crashing to the floor.
"Vote for the budget!" someone joked, referencing the school budget referendum on this week's election ballot.
"Can we do a story about broken desks?" another student asked.
Some student editors of high-school newspapers are redrawing their papers' boundaries, publishing their classmates' articles about the war in Iraq alongside articles about under-stocked soda machines.
"We want to write powerful, real-world things that keep people informed," said Beth Alimena, 17, the editor in chief of The Clarion. Since September, Clarion writers have covered antiwar protests in New York City, high school drug tests, prayer in school, illegal immigrants, state-mandated affordable housing and the failure of the Environmental Protection Agency to meet air-quality standards.
"This is getting us ready," she said. "It's important to get out of the bubble and see what's going on. We're the future - I know that sounds so corny, but you look around and think, one of these days ... "
The Clarion ceased publication during the late 1990s and was revived as a 12-page, bi-monthly paper by two journalism teachers at Hawthorne High last year.
"We're trying to get away from the usual fluff that fills high school newspapers," said Sean Van Winkle, a faculty adviser to The Clarion and reporter for the Hawthorne Press, a community weekly. "We have school issues, but we also have our students look at the larger picture."
In a recent issue, one student's political cartoon showed President Bush in the center of a clock, counting off hours named after U.N. weapons inspections and war resolutions, waiting for the clock to strike 12, or war, o'clock.
"We try to make the paper interesting for students to read, but not so interesting that it gets the principal in trouble," said David Browne, principal of Hawthorne High School. As with most high-school newspapers, the principal reviews each issue before it goes to print.
At The Torch, at John F. Kennedy High School in Paterson, "students have some really deep issues on their minds," said Lories Nye-Flockbower, the paper's adviser and a former newspaper reporter.
"There's always a controversial issue, but no one says, 'Don't print it.'"
Articles about being gay in high school, the beating death of a homeless man by Kennedy students and gang warfare in Paterson have had prominent placement in recent issues of The Torch. The paper, whose history stretches back to Paterson's old Central High, has built a reputation for responsibility that frees its editors from the principal's oversight.
Last month, the editor in chief of The Torch, Ejona Shehu, 17, asked students and teachers for their opinions about the war. She quoted pacifist teachers, students with parents in the military, enlisted students and peace protesters.
"We wanted to relate things to students going into the military, and to the many students here who are Muslim," said Ejona, a Muslim who immigrated from Albania when she was 9. "Our students need to read about this. Since the Iraqi conflict started, everyone automatically assumed that if you are Arabic or Muslim, you would be against the war. Some people tend to think differently, even though they are Muslim."
Across town, at Eastside High School, student editorials about the war are featured in the next issue of The Criterion, that school's longtime student newspaper. At Clifton High School, writers for The Hub are concentrating on local affairs, said adviser Rita Whetton. Students at Wallington High School are also sticking with stories close to home, said Maria Tomassi, student editor of The Courier.
"We deal with positive reactions to reinforce what we're doing in school," she said. "We only have a few issues every year, so we try to get in a lot of school stuff. We don't have a lot of room to put other articles in."
For the papers that cast wide nets, keeping the focus on students is a major challenge.
"We wrote about Iraq, and then about a girl in school who is disabled," Ejona said. "We go from a big issue to what somebody on the outside would call a minor issue. We have things that our students can only read about in The Torch. No outside newspaper is going to come and write about our prom."
"This gives students a voice that can't otherwise be heard," said Beth, The Clarion editor. After a recent article about a broken Gatorade machine, the board of education responded and the problem is being fixed.
"We're not going to get 20 more teachers tomorrow, or 50 new desks, I know. But a thought-out, well-written article is listened to more than a complaint made in anger. It gives us a chance to go after things in a mature way."
"That's a big thing when you're dealing with adults," she explained.
Reach Kathleen Carroll at (973) 569-7135 or carroll@northjersey.com.