Our school paper, Voices of Roosevelt, was created in May of 2022, and has been up and running ever since. Each month or every two months we produce a new issue of our paper, focusing on current events in our community, reviews of popular music and movies and advice for our readers. These issues are always published on our online website as well as our printed issues that come out a couple of times each year. Our team consists of seven students who work hard each month to create content every reader can enjoy. Here is the process of creating a new issue and a peek behind our paper!
First, at the beginning of each month, we pitch. Each team member talks about their ideas for articles whether for this month or further in the future. We talk about which people would be the best fit for which kind of writing and what everyone is interested in bringing to the table for the issue. In the process, we make sure to write down each person’s responsibilities for the month and what the issue will consist of in total. If we are publishing a printed issue, we plan the format for all of the pages on a whiteboard including pictures, sizing, and fonts. Then it becomes time to write. We are usually left with about a week to craft a rough draft. During this time many writers schedule interviews, gather quotes, and take pictures, all of which enhance their articles.
Once our rough drafts are formed, we do peer reviews. This is where we share our articles with another Voices member and get an honest opinion on the quality of our writing and any editing that needs to be done. We then make our final edits and are left with a finished article. We work hard to make the layout of our paper organized and aesthetically pleasing so after all of our articles have been written we often spend a few hours finalizing the layout and entering the issue onto our website.
Once our physical issues are published (December, March and May), we distribute them throughout Roosevelt High School classrooms and hallways, local businesses in St. Johns and Kenton, as well as other schools around PPS. Room 295, our headquarters often has extra copies but you can always rely on our website to find our issues and variety of articles at voicesofroosevelt.com. In the future our team is working to increase our social media presence especially on our instagram @voices_of_roosevelt and starting a podcast called Behind The Voices which will be available to stream soon on Youtube.
Our number one goal with our paper is “to keep it going” – Ellie Weiner, Editor and Chief of Voices of Roosevelt. Roosevelt has not had a printed newspaper since 1993, and we are focused on giving students and staff a voice and outlet to share their thoughts and opinions. If you are interested in getting involved, you can forecast for our prerequisite elective, Intro to Communications at Roosevelt and join our newspaper the following year. You can also participate in our club that meets in Room 295 at lunch on Tuesdays.
