Upper School Newspaper Goes Digital
With energy, foresight, and planning, Principia Upper School’s student-run newspaper keeps up with the news—and keeps up with the fast-changing media environment, too.
Just three years after adopting a vibrant, new full-color look and more cost-effective magazine-style format, The Voice moves to an entirely digital, online format tomorrow, with the first edition of the 2014–2015 school year.
“Major newspapers are changing their focus from print to online publications. . . . [and] high schools across the nation are following suit,” notes student editor Aya Maruyama (US’16) in her editorial. Given the technological imperative as well as environmental and cost benefits, “How could we not make the transition?” she asks.
For the team of six students involved in this metamorphosis from print to digital media, the transition is not only about keeping up with real-world, real-time developments—it’s also an unparalleled experiential learning opportunity! The students range from freshmen to seniors and work under the tutelage of English faculty member Katie MacDonald (C’05), who has been teaching the journalism elective since 2010.
The move online, MacDonald says, was suggested by outgoing editor Tanner Walters (US’14), who learned about the design, hosting, and advisory services offered by School Newspapers Online at a conference he attended while working on The Voice.
Both MacDonald and Walters saw the digital option as a way “to do more to prepare our students for twenty-first-century journalism, to be able to cover a broader range of late-breaking topics, to save money and paper, and to connect to parents of boarders and alumni,” MacDonald explains. To help with the transition, Walters worked with the current Voice team for several weeks before heading out to begin his own journalism adventure as a freshman in the acclaimed program at the University of California, Los Angeles.
In the months leading up to this transition, The Voice team has gradually expanded its presence on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram—and is very excited about this final leap into a fully online world. Maruyama adds half wistfully, however, that the staff will “miss seeing the mad rush” in the lobby on publication day when students (and a few adults!) would grab a copy of The Voice hot off the presses before heading to classes.