By Tanisha ’21
At Harvard-Westlake, students can get involved in any of the eight publications. These include the nationally recognized middle school news magazine, The Spectrum, andthe highly acclaimed and award-winning upper school newspaper, The Chronicle. Over the past six years, I have really enjoyed working in journalism as a staff writer, managing editor, and News section editor for both The Spectrum and The Chronicle, and other Harvard-Westlake publications.
At the middle school campus, official electives in journalism are offered in the eighth and ninth grades. However, seventh grade students can freelance and contribute articles to The Spectrum. During my time at the middle school campus, The Spectrum was printed six times a year and was also available online. Students can get involved in various sections such as news, features, opinion, arts & entertainment, and sports, and they can contribute illustrations in the form of photography, cartoons, and digital artwork. The print version also accepted pictures and art for the front and back covers of the newsmagazine. Currently, Spectrum is available only online. Being part of the journalism team has allowed me to engage in teamwork and make friendships during layout and class. I have also enjoyed contributing to other middle school publications, such as The Tenth Muse, a creative arts and literary magazine, Pathways, a community service magazine, and the Science Magazine.
Newspaper journalism takes a much larger form at the Upper School campus. The Chronicle is printed eight times a year and is regularly updated online. While we layout the newspaper, we edit articles and design pages on weekends and after hours before sending it for publishing. Newspaper journalism has allowed me to get to know more people on campus, and interviewing visiting speakers and organizations, has broadened my understanding of our school and the community at large.
As the Head of the Classics section of Babel, Harvard-Westlake’s annual foreign languages magazine, I review Latin and Greek contributions. This magazine accepts articles, short stories, essays, poems, arts, and photography. It covers Spanish, French, Chinese, Italian, Japanese, and other languages. For the world languages section, I am writing an article to represent the South Asian Students’ Alliance (SASA).
Other upper school publications include Panorama, a quarterly magazine, and The Stone-Cutters, which is an annual arts and literary magazine. Also, those interested in sports may contribute to The Big Red. Students involved with Broadcast journalism present HW podcasts, and HWTV is Harvard-Westlake’s upper school live stream broadcast channel. The student-run online radio show, KHWS, allows students to broadcast a one-hour show of their choice. Furthermore, Vox Populi is the school yearbook, which students can sign up for as a full-year course from eighth grade onwards.
Experiencing journalism has enabled me to teach elementary and middle school students in person and through virtual platforms. Last summer, I presented a course on the “Basics of News Journalism” to middle school students for the North Faring Virtual Exploration Summer Journalism class. Also, it has been a fulfilling experience to mentor middle school students across the United States and Europe through virtual journalism programs such as Media Ahead, Wordshop, and at the Los Angeles Public Library. In addition, when I give examples of article style and structure to students, I find it gratifying to see what they have learned used in their own writing.
Besides contributing to these publications, students can also participate in regional and national journalism conferences and submit articles to contests. I am very fortunate to have received first place for the National Scholastic Press Association’s Story of the Year award in the United States. Also, I have gained recognition from Quill and Scroll and the Journalism Education Association for my articles. In addition, the Chronicle team and I have received the Pacemaker Award, one of the most prestigious journalism awards.
Harvard-Westlake offers numerous avenues in journalism to all students and has a variety of publications. I am deeply indebted to the school for the amazing experience I have gained as a journalist over the past six years.
Spectrum:
https://hwspectrum.com/
Chronicle:
https://hwchronicle.com/
