The Oracle, The Olympian, and The Symposium have more in common than being student-run Spartan publications: All three were honored last week by the Virginia High School League.
The Symposium, our school’s literary magazine, took home the coveted Trophy Class, which is akin to a sports team winning States. The Oracle, our school’s student-run newspaper and the student staff of the The Olympian, the school’s yearbook, both snagged first-place honors for the 2014-15 school year.
“We had a lot of people who spent a lot of time on The Oracle; they put in the work and they were really [wanting it to be] the best that it could be,” said senior Tom Susa, who is one of the newspaper’s Editors-in-Chief this year. “We stayed after school a lot, had people focused in class; everybody felt like this was representing them and they had a real personal connection to it.”
Last year, Susa was an Oracle Managing Editor and worked with then-seniors Ariana Urias, Johnny Cronin, Christine Wittich, Sydney Spicer, Calvin Wilder and Pablo Suarez ers) to produce The Oracle.
The Olympian is run in a similar fashion: Students are given freedom and the responsibility to work together during class and complete their assignments.
“It’s a totally student-driven enterprise; the kids run it, I am very much the adviser: I give them advice,” said longtime newspaper and yearbook adviser Brooke Nelson.
Last year’s yearbook editors, Leena Abed, Taylor McMahon and Londyn Gentry, published a book that set the bar high for this year’s editors, seniors Maddie Blesi and Laura Schwabenbauer; however, their appreciation for the class structure helps them enjoy the work they do.
“The fact that we have so much autonomy, it’s like we can kind of figure out what to do. We’re not being told what to do, we figure it out ourselves,” said Blesi.
With freedom comes challenges and to be able to bring a bunch of high-schoolers together to work cooperatively requires high energy.
Laura Goodman, in her second year as Symposium adviser, said her staff is the driving force toward getting the work done.
“[My role is] keeping everyone on task and offering some advice, but it’s theirs, the staff and the editor’s ,work,” said Goodman.
The Symposium is unlike the other publications because the staff meets after school and works on their own time. This is a challenge that they accept because they are passionate about what they publish.
“Working together with everyone is really fun,” said senior Emily Bordelon. “[The Symposium] is just a good time.”
All three publications challenge students to learn real-life skills and the ability to meet those expectations is what leads to student success.
“I love how the students are in charge and I like that it gives you a more businesslike interaction, a more professional type of class where if you don’t do your work there are penalties, there’s a real product and it’s kind of a taste of the real world,” said Susa.