This year, the Voices team has grown in size and in spirit. In particular, we gained five new dedicated, hard working,
and talented seniors—Lina Alonso, Andres Becerril, Hazel Patterson, Sy Press, and Gigi Thurston. They joined Kyli
Polychronis, who’s been on the paper for four years. With their help, we leveled up our paper in so many ways, but
especially our word games, printed edition layout, and our podcast. This year, we took home 2nd in State at the OJEA
Fall Conference for our printed publication and traveled to Minneapolis for the Spring JEA National High School
Journalism Convention, all of which wouldn’t have been possible without our seniors. Our seniors this year consistently brought fresh ideas to the paper and their ambitious energy grew our paper in ways we never thought were
possible. Voices of Roosevelt has played such a huge part in our high school experience because beyond the newspaper,
you gain so many new experiences, friendships, and every senior undoubtedly leaves a unique legacy behind.
Our Editor in Chief, Kyli Polychronis has been on the team for four years. She joined the newspaper club her
freshman year, before officially joining the class her sophomore year. Kyli brought so much to the Voices team throughout the last four years, as she’s been here practically from the beginning of the paper in 2022. Most notably, Kyli established the sports column, working with our athletic director to provide a full review of Roosevelt
sports. Kyli has done so much for Voices of Roosevelt, from building her own column, to heading our social media, and
consistently leading us as the biggest team we’ve had yet. Next year, Kyli will be attending The University Of Southern
California and majoring in communications.
Kyli has been not only the most supportive Editor-in-chief, but friend too. Kyli quickly became one of our best friends,
from hanging out in the hotel room on our trip at the 2025 Spring JEA conference, to sleepovers all summer long. Kyli
has become such a huge part of our lives in such a short amount of time, always being someone we can run to. Her advice and compassion are unmatched, and she constantly uplifts everyone around her. Throughout the past year we’ve made countless memories both on and off the paper, and we’re so so grateful for the time we’ve spent together. We definitely have big shoes to fill, but we are all wishing Kyli the best of luck.
Next, we have Lina Alonso, who took on the challenge of joining our very small layout team, and she consistently took on the task of building complicated layouts in InDesign. Throughout the year she consistently gave her all, whether it was layout, articles or peer reviews. As Managing Editor of our school’s yearbook, she brought knowledge about leadership, storytelling and school spirit that benefited our entire team. Her articles tended to focus on new coaches at Roosevelt, and goings-on in our school community. Through her connection to coaches through
sports, and the school through leadership, she provided a closer look into the goings-on at Roosevelt. Next year, Lina
will be attending Northwestern University and majoring in political science.
Our next senior, Hazel Patterson, joined the Voices team this year, but jumped right into rebuilding our classic community page. This year, Hazel put together all of our word games and really focused her writing on the Roosevelt community. Her connection to the student council as a Class of 2026 Senior Representative really helped communicate so much information through our publication. Hazel brought positive energy to our class on the daily, and is always
happy to help with just about anything. Next year, Hazel plans to attend George Washington University to major in
political science.
Gigi Thurston joined Voices this year with lots of great ideas, ready to help out. She joined our layout team, working hard to build some great spreads, even taking time outside of class to help our printed issues come together. She is always willing to step up and try something new, and she helped out a lot with our fundraising, including cheering on
the Holiday Half Marathon. As far as articles go, Gigi tried her hand at local sports, covering Portland’s new WNBA
team and current news with the Trail Blazers, as well as some deep dives into notable alumni and federal policy.
Next year, Gigi plans to attend The University of Utah to major in communications.
Andres Becerril joined the paper this year, and wrote about a variety of things relevant to teens, like employment
struggles and summer activities. Andres brought a positive attitude and uplifting spirit to class just about every day!
We’re so grateful for the work Andres put in this year, and we’re wishing him the best of luck next year!
Our final graduating senior, Sy Press, joined the paper this year and quickly took on the project of growing our
podcast sector. With Sy’s help, we were able to revive our podcast: Behind The Voices. Sy quickly took initiative in the recording and editing process, contributing to the construction of a whole sector of our newspaper in only a year. This year, Sy focused on entertainment writing, focusing on anything from video games to TV series. Sy has done so much to move the paper towards a bigger and better future and for that we’re so grateful! After graduation, Sy is hoping
to go into the electrical field!
We truly could not have had the amazing year we had without each and every one of our seniors. Their individual
strengths filled gaps and lifted up their underclassmen to make 3 full printed issues and 3 online issues. Our team
would not have been the same without them, and we wish them all the best as they leave Roosevelt and enter new,
exciting parts of their lives. To our seniors: thank you for all you’ve done. We’re all rooting for you and can’t wait to see what you do next!
