The Photojournalism Issue

For our penultimate Peoples Press issue of 2026, our students read and examined mentor texts by award-winning photojournalists past and present, including the iconic Dorothea Lange. Students explored four major framing techniques of photojournalistic photography: disturbance (getting to the edge of the frame), proximity (taking photos from an intimate angle), vantage point (switching up the camera angle-- getting high and low), and place (subtley including clues about the location of the shot). Their story choices were based on their own interests and current school events.  

Friday School Store

by Ian Nepveu

Students who work in a school store can learn to listen to an employer and implement constructive feedback while managing inventory supplies. (Cassel, 2022)

Over time, the store may modify and evolve its ideas, with a particularly new idea being the coffee cart, which is what other schools have added, for instance.

Reference:

Cassel, Sean. “Setting Up a School Store as Project-Based Learning.” Edutopia, George Lucas Educational Foundation, 11 Nov. 2022, https://www.edutopia.org/article/setting-up-a-school-store-as-project-based-learning/. Accessed 1 June 2026.

Hunting Memories

I personally don't think there are many problems, but there are some major ones with Vermont's hunting laws. This new law came out this year that Vermont hunters will be able to harvest two bucks now, but there aren't enough bucks to go around in Vermont. I also think that Vermont hunters should not be able to shoot a spike-horn buck.

 A spike horn buck is usually one and a half years old. Being able to shoot spikes in Vermont limits how big Vermont deer get. Because of how young and dumb spikes are, you're more apt to see a spike than a ten-point. 

From 2016 to 2025, Vermont's annual statewide deer population estimates ranged from 130,000 to 155,000. I think that's honestly not a lot of deer. I feel like we could have a lot more if Vermont would limit how many deer we could harvest a year. Last year, in 2025, there were 17,745 deer reported in Vermont. 9,670 bucks and 8,075 antlerless were harvested. 

From when I started hunting in 2020 to now, I have noticed a difference in the populations of deer and turkeys, but I still have been lucky enough to harvest my birds and deer almost every year. 

The feeling of harvesting my first deer in the last spot my grandfather did before he passed. I still go back to the same spot every year to go hunting. 

The pursuit and chasing wild turkeys down is way better than sitting on a stump for hours. It gets my adrenalin pumping so hard when I shot my first turkeys it felt like I had done something better than my first deer because of how intelligent turkeys really are. 

In this issue, you will learn about a get-the-vote-out effort in Vermont high schools, how PA students feel about AI and the ups and downs of the most recent sugaring season. For this installment of the Peoples Press, students learned how to use the classic inverted pyramid organizational structure. Each student was challenged to place their who, what, where and when in their first paragraph, the lede. Then, students added the why and how to their following paragraph. Supporting details (evidence, quotes) follow in order of importance. For each article, students conducted research-- developing their informational reading and evidence-citation skills. 

The Opinion Issue

In preparation for the opinion/editorial issue, students read mentor texts to study the structure of an opinion article. They learned about common types of unconscious bias and logical fallacies present in everyday media. While opinion articles do reflect the views of the writer, students learned the importance of substantiating claims with research and rooting assertions in facts. Students chose from a variety of editorial slants, including critiquing, advocating, endorsing, defending, praising and predicting. You will read here several well-articulated critiques of current social and pop-culture issues.  

When Powers Turn Deadly

by Dajanae Deslandes

Strike on Girls' School Kills at Least 175, Iranian State Media Says (Source: The New York Times)

War doesn't just destroy countries; it destroys childhoods, upsetting the lives of children who shouldn't have known violence.

The recent war involving the United States, Iran, and Israel has quickly escalated, creating more chaos around the world. This war became even more heartbreaking when children at an all-girls school were killed, symbolizing that innocent lives are often lost and affected most by war (Nierenberg and Chutel). Thousands of airstrikes have targeted military bases, government buildings, and defense systems in Iran, killing essential leaders like Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. This war also expanded to neighboring countries like Lebanon, where fighting with Hezbollah caused many people to flee their homes.

Why is this war really happening?

The war between the United States, Israel, and Iran is driven by control over resources and power in the Middle East, threatening not only the region but the safety of innocent civilians worldwide.

To start, one major reason this war is dangerous is that it targets civilians, including children, causing distress and demonstrating that the conflict extends further beyond political disagreement. Attacks on schools, hospitals, and neighboring countries show that civilians are often the ones impacted by war the most. Almost 200 children were killed in an all-girls elementary school in southern Iran, and two boys' schools were also damaged (Nierenberg and Chutel). Additionally, according to the Iranian Red Crescent, airstrikes have led to the deaths of hundreds of civilians across the country (Gambrell). Furthermore, Across Iran, more than 1000 civilians have died, and major damage to community infrastructure has made daily life harder for many people (Huaxia). These tragic attacks highlight that this war isn't just about political power but also about the suffering and loss experienced by innocent school children.

The war is also destabilizing the region, making other countries in the region less safe and secure. It's not only creating problems in one region but also in every other region. The escalation of the military conflict in Iran has drawn neighboring countries into the conflict; when the oil supply is disrupted, oil prices rise, which affects the gas and heating for homes and buildings. Significantly, Clashes between Israeli troops and Hezbollah in Lebanon have resulted in around 400 deaths, forcing more than 600,000 people to flee their homes and find safety somewhere else. As people flee the fighting, surrounding countries are struggling to provide food, shelter, and safety for the refugees.

The effects of this war extend far beyond the Middle East, impacting the global economy. Roughly one-fifth of the world's oil supply is transported through the Strait of Hormuz, making it a critically important route for global energy, and the conflict has already caused gas prices in Canada to go up (Robertson). The conflict is creating global risks, causing safety fears for people in other countries, including concerns about possible attacks and threats (huaxia). As the tensions rise in this region, oil shipments are threatened. For example, the ongoing war has begun to affect everyday life in Canada, where people are now paying noticeably more for gasoline as prices continue to go up. In addition to economic consequences, the conflict is creating global risks, causing safety fears for people in other countries, including concerns about possible attacks and threats (Huaxia). These risks show the war isn't just regional but a crisis for everyone around the world.

I believe the war between the United States, Israel, and Iran is driven by competition for power and natural resources, and it threatens the lives and safety of civilians while sabotaging the region itself and the world. Civilians, mainly children, are being killed, and conflicts are spreading to Lebanon, affecting production, transport, and the price of oil worldwide. World leaders must act now to de-escalate this situation before it causes greater destruction and loss of innocent lives.

RESOURCES:
GAMBRELL, JON. “Iranian Red Crescent Society Says at Least 787 People in Iran Killed in US-Israeli Airstrikes.” WRAL.com, WRAL, 3 Mar. 2026, www.wral.com/news/ap/87558-iranian-red-crescent-society-says-at-least-787-people-in-iran-killed-in-us-israeli-airstrikes/?utm_source=chatgpt.com. Accessed 19 Mar. 2026.

            Huaxia, a. “Over 1,300 Iranian Civilians Killed, Nearly 10,000 Civilian Sites Destroyed in U.S.-Israeli Military Strikes: Iran’s UN Envoy.” News.cn, 2026, english.news.cn/20260311/8e493c1b335e43e5aa0922991391afc8/c.html?utm_source=chatgpt.com. Accessed 19 Mar. 2026.

           Nierenberg, Amelia, and Lynsey Chutel. “How the Bombing of Iran Is Affecting Lebanon, Kuwait and Other Countries.” Nytimes.com, The New York Times, 2 Mar. 2026, www.nytimes.com/2026/03/02/world/middleeast/iran-attacks-damage-what-to-know.html. Accessed 19 Mar. 2026.

            Robertson, Dylan. “Times Colonist.” Times Colonist, Victoria Times Colonist, 7 Mar. 2026, www.timescolonist.com/national-business/seven-ways-the-war-in-iran-could-affect-canadians-from-grocery-costs-to-terrorism-11971825. Accessed 16 Mar. 2026.

Why Vermont?

by Brody Boyea

Photo by Peter James Eisenhaure on Unsplash 

Why is Vermont a great place to live?

If you ever need help with anything, they'll usually jump to help.  People know each other. Most of the people that you live near are nice so you don't have to worry about getting robbed or stuff like that. Being able to live in Vermont is fun and peaceful. I like Vermont because of the tiny population and no big cities. 

Living in Vermont is fun because of all the little local businesses and good food and drinks. Most of the small businesses are run by younger people, great treats, and Vermonters love their bagels. Supporting small businesses like restaurants, shops and small maple sugaring operations is good because it's someone trying to start from new and work their way up and make a good name for themselves. If they don't have anything you like or they haven't got it 100% yet, still help them out and get the name out because maybe some people will like it more and more people that find out about it more and more business they'll get. 

One example of a small business you should support is maple sugaring. Vermont produces tons of maple syrup a year driving down back roads in mud season you'll see pipe lines or sap buckets everyone and their uncle in Vermont makes maple syrup. Vermont makes 2.55 million gallons of maple syrup a year supplying over half the nation with syrup, with over 6.65 million taps a year. Vermont is number 1 for the most syrup produced in the country. 

Vermont makes so much syrup for the world because us Vermonters like to get out and get our hands dirty and aren't afraid of it, so that's why we do it. Sugaring, it isn't always easy when a tree falls on the pipe line in the middle of sugar season, you got to go clear it up because there's only a few weeks that the sap runs good. 

Living in Vermont is safe because when crimes happen around here, it seems like it's mostly just the kids trying to have fun and getting pulled over for speeding, nothing too bad to worry about. Vermonters are neighborly because we are good helping people and know how to be useful and most of us are usually kind people. 

From all the reading I've done about Vermont and living in Vermont my whole entire sixteen years of my life I've never been worried about anything. The crime rate in Vermont was 2.98 in 1,000 people which means for every 1,000 people 3 people experienced a violent crime. Vermont's violent crime rate is only 14% of the national average (Habas). Not having to worry about much makes life less stressful but to add to Vermont not having too much to worry about like your house getting broken into or getting robbed makes me not stress out as much as going to a big city. 

Vermont is a good place to live all around, but at some points it's a little tricky from my perspective. The only thing that I've heard or read that's bad about Vermont is usually just protests in Montpellier or Burlington. Recently, on Mar 12, 2026, there was a protest in South Burlington. It didn’t seem like the protesters knew what they were protesting about because on one hand, there was a man, Deyvi Daniel, who was here illegally and also drunk driving and evading ICE, and got in a multi-vehicle accident. If they were protesting ICE, it doesn’t make sense to me that they were supporting someone committing multiple crimes (Brouwer, et. al.).

Honestly, living here is 50/50 because waking up in the summer gives your heart a good feeling, but winter not so much: like having to go shovel your porch and brush off your car. But, if you're up to that and don't mind, I'd say living in Vermont is wonderful and would recommend at least coming to Vermont one time in your life. 

Living here is fun because there are no really big buildings or warehouses and the air here is pure and healthy, so no worrying about breathing in smog or smoke. Living in Vermont is fun because of all the little local businesses and because we are good, helping people. From all the reading I've done about Vermont and living in Vermont my entire life, I've never been worried about anything. The only thing that I've heard or read that's bad about Vermont is usually just protests in Montpellier or Burlington. 

Pretend you've never been here. Do you think you would ever come visit Vermont? If you came here on vacation, do you think you'd ever want to live here?  What would your reasons be?

REFERENCES:

Habas, Cathy. “Vermont’s Safest Cities of 2026.” SafeWise, Safewise.com, 29 Jan. 2026, www.safewise.com/blog/safest-cities-vermont/. Accessed 2 Apr. 2026.

Brouwer, D., Elder-Connors, L., McDonald, Z. “ICE Enforcement Action Leads to Protest, Violent Clashes Outside South Burlington House.” Wbur.org, 12 Mar. 2026, www.wbur.org/news/2026/03/12/burlington-vermont-ice-enforcement-clash-protest-car-accident-flashbangs. Accessed 2 Apr. 2026.