Student-Initiated, Student-Run Newspaper Publishes Second Edition
As printed newspapers throughout the country struggle and even die out, one newspaper at Long-View Micro School is thriving. Founded and entirely run by a group of learners, The Long-View Gazette published its first edition in early January of 2020. Many of us were excited, eagerly diving into the paper and reading it in one sitting; we were not only impressed with the excellent writing, but we also got caught up in the flurry of something new. But would it last? Indeed, it would. Last week, on February 17, 2020, The Long-View Gazette published its second edition, which was as popular as its first.
In this second edition, the publishers included the following short history of the newspaper (edited slightly by Long-View staff to protect the privacy of our learners). This history excerpt was embedded in a longer article titled “The Real Argument,” a piece about competing newspapers at the school. The article highlights that, for a time period, there were five competing student publications at Long-View, though apparently The Long-View Gazette was the first to produce an actual print edition.
Excerpt on the history of The Long-View Gazette:
The newspaper was established in late November 2019. Louisa had the idea to begin the Long-View Gazette and after she came up with the idea, she shared it with her friend, Cooper. Cooper and his friend, Tej, then began to implement the excellent idea of creating the first published (student) newspaper of Long-View. Louisa’s mom (Jennie) thought of the real name that it is now: The Long-View Gazette.
The organization started off as just the three of them, Cooper, Tej, and Louisa, until they decided to expand the employee count. They later hired Lia, a Fuchsia-bander excited to join something new. Then, the team decided to hire Ellie as an Assistant Writer and then later promoted her to Head Editor. After a month of meetings, calls, and hard work, the writers had finished the newspaper and just needed to edit. The day after they published [for the first time] the team hired Jules and Elina, merging The Long-View Press with the Long-View Gazette. The same day, the newspaper hired Finley and Amiya. A couple of weeks later, the team voted to expand one last time. They finally hired Hayes.
Outside of this feature story, the rest of the second edition of The Long-View Gazette included stories about school events, as well as one story highlighting world news:
“Dog Dilemma” -- about a memorable lunch experience with a corgi in Pease Park
“Nico and the Exploding Sprite” -- about a funny “explosion” that happened after school
“Mamba Out But Not Forgotten” -- about the death of Kobe Bryant
“Computers... Taken for granted?” -- about the importance of computer usage at Long-View
At the end of the edition, indicative of how much Long-View learners love math, the newspaper offered a math expression for readers to simplify, much like another paper might offer a crossword puzzle or Soduko grid.
The Long-View Gazette staff eagerly handed out this edition early in the morning before Campfire and by lunchtime at least half the school was chatting about the latest edition. By afternoon dismissal, the rest of the school caught up with the buzz and was also talking about the news, especially the article about the “Exploding Sprite” and the article about how computers might be taken for granted by some of the community.
Long-View teachers and learners have been inspired by the level of dedication and quality of work produced by the paper, and we all cannot wait to see what The Long-View Gazette has in store next!