The Oracle through the years
Since 1966, The Oracle has been a staple piece of our school’s history. 56 volumes have been published with thousands of articles written by Spartans old and new, and it has evolved from a four page newspaper with words and stories scattered throughout into a well-respected and organized publication.
Every issue of The Oracle features a spread of different stories on world events, the latest movies and music, viewpoints on controversial issues, sports, and more. In many ways, The Oracle has drastically changed since its humble beginning. The Scoop section didn’t appear until the early 2000s, Forum and Business sections have been added and eliminated multiple times, and it has changed back and forth between the magazine and newspaper format on various occasions. In some ways, however, The Oracle is exactly the same.
“The old Oracles reflect how some things never change,” said Applied History teacher Brian Heintz. “For example, 50 years of editions consistently repeat dissatisfaction of the student body with student leadership, pressure to get good grades, frustration with standardized tests, parking problems, etc. The challenges of being an adolescent were similar.”
Although the online newspaper industry has gained far more popularity in recent years, the print version of The Oracle still seems to grab people’s attention.
“The Oracle was about as big a thing then as it is now,” said Biology and Oceanography teacher Mariah Eisman, who graduated from WS in 2002. “We had a different type of schedule when I was in school here, and we did not have Advisory/LS. Instead, we had a ‘break’. But when the Oracle came out, you did see students reading it in the hallways or classrooms.”
The Oracle isn’t the only publication to have surfaced in the halls of the school. Along with it emerged The Sage. Both publications were run under adviser David Plummer from years .
“The assumption was that they were rival publications. But, in inspecting the [first] issue of the Sage, that doesn’t appear true,” said Heintz. “It seems as if there was just so much student interest in publications that it necessitated a [second] paper (or ‘news magazine’ as they called it). It only operated for two editions in 1988-89.”
Despite the many changes in advisers, trying times through the pandemic, and the many other challenges faced by journalists, The Oracle has remained strong. Hard work, sweat, and maybe even tears have always been put into making this newspaper the most unbiased, factual, and relevant newspaper possible for the Spartan community.
