The Panther Press - Teaching Craft

Since fall 2022, I have advised the extracurricular student newspaper at Strath Haven High School.

Our first year was about laying the groundwork. Alongside two seniors who had been named editors by the exiting advisers, we re-launched the publication’s dormant website. We launched social media channels. We focused on recruitment and training. Students learned new words like lede, nutgraf, and libel, and I took them to their first-ever state and national conventions.

In year two, our focus areas were systems, identity, and design. We established a core team of five—two editors-in-chief, two managing editors, and a social media editor—and defined the responsibilities of an editorial board. We began to celebrate promotions from contributor (new writers) to reporter (three published stories) with sweatshirts and swag. Editors began to build evening and weekend worknights into a bi-monthly calendar. Students launched regular features, beats, and multimedia features, and attended workshops independently to learn more about web and print design. We re-designed both the print format and the website. The publication earned its first significant state and national recognition.

In year four — to the amazement of the student team and adviser — The Panther Press earned an Online Pacemaker from the National Scholastic Press Association.

Our small-but-mighty team still has plenty of room for growth, which is exciting for all of us. It has been a blast to learn alongside these students.

Click to read student reflections after our fall 2024 trip to the National High School Journalism Convention in Philadelphia, PA