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le journal
High school newsrooms are much like actual newsrooms: chaotic near deadline, a wild amalgamation of personalities, a mix of attentions to detail, and a group of people hoping to share the right stories well.
I had the privilege of working with five unique teams to produce over 30 issues of an award-winning news magazine.
Each issue was a crash course in collaboration, ethics, layout, and what it means to have a voice. I wasn’t just teaching AP style or helping brainstorm headlines — I was guiding students through the process of seeing their world more clearly and learning how to share it with others.
We covered everything from campus protests and student mental health to pop culture, politics, and prom. Staff members learned how to chase a lead, conduct an interview, revise until the writing was tight, and advocate for stories that mattered, even when they were hard. I also taught design thinking, how to edit as a team, and how to build a cohesive issue with visual logic and editorial flow.
My role included curriculum development, deadline management, production coaching, and conflict mediation — but also celebrating students when they got their first byline, their best pull quote, or their first piece of constructive criticism. Working on Le Journal was a powerful reminder that even young voices have stories worth telling — and that real journalism is just as much about listening as it is about writing.
Sion Student Media Online
In addition to organizing and producing print issues, the Le Journal staff created content for the online news website, which underwent a rebrand under my direction. Once known as "Le Journal Live," I worked with a student editor to create a new publication title and match the Instagram with it, which also brought all publications and students voices under one umbrella and the potential to be displayed and discussed in one spot.
defending dialogue
As a private school publication subject to prior review, our newsroom operated within a system where stories could be evaluated by administration before going to print. I served as a liaison between student editors and school leadership. My role was to ensure student journalists never pre-censored themselves out of fear or assumption, but instead felt empowered to pursue the stories that mattered most to them. At the same time, I worked to build trust with our principal and head of school, advocating for the educational value and ethical rights of student journalism — and encouraging open, respectful dialogue about the purpose and power of student voice.
a LIGHT ON POLITICS
My last year being an election year proved to increase the need for discussion on journalistic ethics, unbiased or equal reporting, as well as finding use of credible and relevant sources.
TOUGH TOPICS
I never encouraged students to shy away from difficult topics, but I wanted to make sure they were exploring them clearly and with informative and solution-oriented messaging. As an all-girls high school, students were often interested in things like gender norms or expectations, women's health or harassment. They were able to explore these topics and share personal anecdotes from the community while also providing advice or tactics to succeed.
The senior issue
At the end of every academic year, the last issue of the news magazine honors the graduating class with small features, profiles and statistics about the group. Attempts to keep the covers and content unique each year always meant a certain amount of creative lifting occurs among the staff.
EDITORIAL STRUCTURE
Student newsroom teams that imitate the real world are ideal, however, you never know what your class size will be, the dedication or natural talent levels of each group, and how to
get everything together. You hope and pray for a strong
editor-in-chief and you work side-by-side with every new staffer
in order to train them as the next leaders on staff. This involves outside-of-class work.
My kids learned quick that I'm always willing to help, but I
struggle with morning meetings and prefer the night owl creative flow lifestyle. We don't always get to pick that life, but a picture of
my editors meeting in the library together before I arrived is the correct summary of my earlier experiences planning with
student leaders.
