Scholastic Journalism Week promotes campus, community coverage

The Feather Online staff participated in the annual Scholastic Journalism Week alongside hundreds of other high school groups across the nation, Feb. 24-28. The theme “Big Questions, Big Results’’ challenged student journalists to tackle controversial world topics and convey their research through factual reporting.

The campus paper covers the life and times of Fresno Christian students through digital newspaper articles, social media coverage and video reporting throughout the week. Serve Day, the boys basketball Valley championship game and Newsies, The Broadway Production, are recent school community unifying articles.

The Feather publication aims to open communication between the school community, students, staff, family and faculty.

Superintendent Jeremy Brown was hired at Fresno Christian six years ago. Prior to his position overseeing the campus student body, Brown worked as a teacher at Live Oak Middle School in Tulare County for seven years and as the administrator at Kings Canyon Unified for 13 years. Brown views journalism as often bipartisan discussion between journalists and respondents.

“Not only at our school but any school, journalism is two-way communication,” Brown said. “It’s not only communication for readers to understand what’s going on from the journalist’s point of view. It’s also for the interviewee to express their point of view.”

As superintendent, Brown’s primary charge is spiritual and academic oversight. He values factual high school reporting when faced with a situation that involves multiple viewpoints.

“It’s hard for me to understand what it’s like to be a student in this age,” Brown continued. “Unfortunately when communication breaks down, people’s feelings may be invalid because of a lack of understanding. The context of a situation from multiple points of view is critical. It doesn’t change reality but understanding is the bridge to revealing the truth of a situation for everyone.”

Feather advisers Greg Stobbe, who has led the paper since 1996, and Kori Friesen (since 2014) currently lead a staff of 33 journalists including editors, reporters, photographers and videographers. The digital paper has won eight Columbia Scholastic Press Association Digital News Gold Crowns and six National Scholastic Press Association Online Pacemakers.

The Feather editor-in-chief Addison Schultz, ‘21, utilizes journalism as a tool to share campus students’ stories with individuals around the city and school.

“Journalism is essential to our school because it is a direct example of practicing our First Amendment rights,” Schultz said. “We are on our campuses every day but our parents, friends and relatives are not. We have the opportunity to share the stories of our student body, local news and what is going on around the state, nation and world.”

Adviser of The Gator publication and founder of the Private School Journalism Association (PSJA) in Boston, Massachusetts, David Cutler has obtaining increased student press rights in private schools.

“I think there exists a pocket of private schools that do a phenomenal job in journalism,” Cutler said. “The Feather, in particular, I think is among the best in the country. I think right now there are a lot of  efforts with this “new voices” legislation. One of the goals that I am trying to accomplish with this association is to get this push for student press rights to also publish private school journalists.”

English teacher and former high school reporter Andrea Donaghe challenges students to engage with their campus journalism team and discover truths for themselves.

“Journalism is essential for our school to keep the written word alive, accountable and relevant to students,” Donaghe said. “You can’t believe everything you read or see on the internet or ‘slapchat’! Yes, I know it’s Snapchat…I’m trying to be witty!”

In the following tweet, Scholastic Journalism Week shared The Feather’s Discover Fresno article for #WhoWeAre.

In their series “Discover Fresno” @thefeather staff shares stories using written word, podcast, photography, & video. They are always publishing important stories in their community w/ awesome content & timely production! Check it out: https://t.co/rdw7unzpWQ #WhoWeAre #SJW2020

— Scholastic J Week (@ScholasticJWeek) February 28, 2020

Students across the country compete for national newspaper awards and recognition, but journalism boils down to the conveying municipal, state, national and global stories as well as school news. Editor-in-chief Vijay Stephen, ‘21, shares how publications increases the coverage and credibility of the community.

“Without journalism, a lot of stories would go unsaid,” Stephen said. “Everybody at our school is their own unique person with their own skills, talents and life experiences. Through The Feather, we bring these stories to light and share the uniqueness of our community.”

Former Feather editor-in-chief Chloe Mueller, ’16, led The Feather to its last NSPA Online Pacemaker in 2016. She is in her final year at Northwestern University and is majoring in computer science.

“At the beginning of high school, as someone who had grown up with an interest in writing,  joining The Feather staff was an instinctual decision,” Mueller said. “I figured that I’d publish articles, and it would look good on a college application. However, I quickly discovered that my time — both in and out of the lab — would be divided up by a myriad of different tasks each day.”

Mueller went on to say that while she first enjoyed the writing, she fell in love with the scaffolding behind the words.

“An average school day consisted of organizing the front page, delegating tasks for the next week, communicating with other staffers, making sure we had all of our content ready for the day, and brainstorming a plan B if we didn’t,” Mueller continued. “Our work extended past writing articles; every day we carefully constructed a product, bringing stories and experiences to life.”

After graduating in June 2020, Mueller is ready for a career in software engineering and plans on starting in New York City later this year.

“I can almost certainly say that I owe my Northwestern admittance to my time at The Feather,” Mueller said. “Although I’ve pivoted from journalism to computer science, two seemingly opposite ends of the spectrum, the skills I gained from the Feather are still relevant as ever in my day-to-day. The Feather equipped me with interpersonal skills, confidence, and experience working under pressure that have been essential in navigating college and internships. With graduation approaching in only a few months, I know I’ll be using the same skillset wherever life takes me.”

Since its establishment in 2001, Fresno Christian’s daily digital publication, The Feather Online, has grown to meet the needs of its campus and students. With the inclusion of international students on staff, a foreign perspective is offered culturally, socially and politically.

In the following podcast, junior Celeste Castaneda discusses the importance of high school journalism and its platform to communicate and engage with peers and with community members with Superintendent Jeremy Brown.

Joining The Feather this year, international student journalist Yuteng (Mars) Hou, ’20; he shares what he has learned in the lab so far.

“Being in The Feather, let me learn how to write articles and some things that you need to care about if you are writing articles,” Hou said. “My English is not good, but I can write good articles with the guidance of my teacher, Mr. Stobbe.”

Videographer Wesley Hinton, ‘20, entered The Feather lab with no experience using a camera. After months of exposure interviewing city leaders and campus individuals, Hinton reflects on the skills he gained during his time on the team.

“By the end of the first year, I had learned how to shoot video on manual settings, edit in Premiere Pro, and write video posts,” Hinton said. “Last year I got to film interviews with the Mayor of Clovis, Fresno, and the Police Chief of Fresno. Nearing the end of my senior year, I am very grateful for the skills I was able to gain and the people I was able to meet in my time on The Feather.”

Donaghe recognizes the generational divide that often excludes youth from sharing their voices. She discusses her thoughts on the significance of students showcasing their opinions.

“A student voice is important because change happens with youth,” Donaghe said. “It is important for the student voice to be heard in order for others, a.k.a. ‘older people’, to understand their interests and what they will be standing and lobbying for.”

The annual Scholastic Journalism Week in February allows student journalists to showcase the extent of their news coverage and the importance of news engagement. Reporters focus on global stories that keep student life in mind.

Schultz believes in the importance of using student voice to prepare high schoolers for when they travel beyond their hometowns into the rest of the world.

“Student voice is important because we are the next generation,” Schultz continued. “If we don’t practice our right to free speech now and learn how to steward that freedom well, our adult life could be filled with confusion and divisive interpretations of our First Amendment rights.”

In the following podcast, Celeste Castaneda discusses the Private School Journalism Association (PSJA) with The Gator adviser David Cutler through a phone call.

The Feather staff and campus students exercise their freedom of speech and press by sharing stories, issues and columns that are important to them. Stephen stresses the vitality of the unheard opinions of youth.

“Student voice is important because freedom of speech doesn’t just apply to adults,” Stephen continued. “Students’ voices and stories are important despite their age. Just because we are students doesn’t mean we don’t have opinions on important issues or that these issues don’t affect us. Our voices need to be heard!”

Cutler looks to The Feather as a model for his students at The Gator to develop new ideas. He hopes to gain The Feather’s support as he creates a consortium of high school newspaper programs.

“I’m so floored by the breath of coverage that The Feather is able to manage,” Cutler said. “What you’ve done from sports coverage to broadcast, the quality, the output, the quantity is impressive. In my mind it’s surpassed from any other private school I’ve seen in the country. We do what we can here with The Gator, but we often look to you guys for inspiration.”

Cutler encourages everyone who joins the Private School Journalism Association (PSJA) to also be a part of the existing scholastic press associations. He believes the public and private school students can learn from each other.

“When members join my organization, I’m really going to push them to also join the National Scholastic Press Association (NSPA) and Columbia Scholastic Press Association (CSPA). They hold these massive conferences and are just so important for students to meet up with each other.”

Private schools and institutions share a unique perspective on student voice as it collides with freedom of religion. As students undertake factual news telling, they learn how to approach topics regarding spirituality, the Bible and Christian faith without bias.

Brown encourages students to have a voice in order to avoid complication and for adults to gain an understanding of the upcoming generation.

“All voices are important,” Brown said. “Student voices are really important because when you’re not heard, two things happen. You start yelling or you quit talking. So student voices are valid; however, validity doesn’t always mean right. I’m not always right, but valid and being valid and right are not the same thing.”

After its launch in fall 2019, the PSJA aims to empower students and advisers to “fulfill stated mission statements and philosophies which place an emphasis on student voice and student leadership.” The program strives to lend a helping hand to private school struggling with expressing their voice.

Cutler encourages the public not to underestimate the power of a student’s voice. With the press and student activists under attack, the influence of young voices becomes more relevant.

“As student journalists and advisers we should keep in mind that student voice is really important,” Cutler continued. “It’s important for people to keep in mind that just because students are younger, doesn’t mean that they don’t have opinions and views to share or that they can’t cover news and affect it in a powerful way.”  

In the following tweet, the PSJA promotes a podcast about student voice censorship in private schools.

Podcast: New Voices and Private Schoolshttps://t.co/j7rtDmF10C @SPLC @CSPA @NSPA @NAISnetwork @nationalJEA

— PSJA (@psja_voice) February 26, 2020

Cutler is introducing his new program to wider-reaching organizations at upcoming conferences, in hopes of gaining support. He is currently applying for a grant from the EE Ford Foundation and prepares to travel to the National Association of Independent School (NAIS) conference in Philadelphia to jumpstart his program.

Last year The Feather published Student voices in private schools and Year of the Student Journalist concludes, young voices speak out as well as New Voices legislation seeks to restore student journalist rights.

For more information on student voice, visit the Edutopia website and read the Student Voice section. Students and teachers might want to read KnowledgeWorks article, Eight ways to encourage student voice. For those who need help in establishing student voice in their state, visit the Student Press Law Center.

Scholastic Journalism Week draws the community together through journalism, but news unification continues all year. Be sure to interact with and encourage The Feather team through retweeting, commenting and sharing posts. Write on!

For more current articles, read Who We Are: Feather staffers, adviser shares publication’s purpose and COLUMN: Chinese international student talks press for education.

Celeste Castaneda can be reached via email.