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We collaborate across sections and grades.
We collaborate across sections and grades.
The Panther Press is fully extracurricular, meaning we have no classes dedicated to running this publication. When I started writing in my freshman year, it felt like a weakness. Today, it’s one of our proudest strengths; it’s encouraged us to report as a team that’s passionate about journalism. Our staff often collaborates on bylines—the majority of our newest staffers write their first stories with an editor double-bylining—and many of my best stories were ones that I wrote with others.
The teamwork of this paper is why I joined in freshman year, and why I continue to write today. Our editors have always been the ones to bust me out of my comfort zone; they made me fall in love with storytelling, particularly when it comes to a school as quirky and passionate as this one. By encouraging me in every way, from diligent edits on my stories to the loudest celebrations of my smallest wins, the support of my editors made me a better journalist.
Everything I have learned about reporting and writing is because of the culture of teamwork that this extracurricular staff has fostered. Every section, from Haven Happenings (our student life section) to arts/entertaiment works to convey our shared love for this school and passion for writing.
Reporting
A Peek Into My Reporting Process
A Peek Into My Reporting Process
The core of any story is the quotes. Without excellent interviews and thorough sourcing, there is no story. This article on Haven's 40th year anniversary is an example of how I go through my reporting process.
1) Come up with a list of people to interview.
1) Come up with a list of people to interview.
Sometimes I'll get recommendations from the last person I interviewed on who to interview next.
2) Come up with interview questions for each person.
2) Come up with interview questions for each person.
This is before I send the emails for interview requests, because I never know if they'll be available as soon as I send the email.
3) Send the emails for interview requests.
3) Send the emails for interview requests.
We share a standard email example format for our staff members to use. Check it out in our staff manual!
4) Go back and forth on meeting dates.
4) Go back and forth on meeting dates.
Practicing interview skills with a new staff member in August 2025. Fiona Seale
5) Do the interview.
5) Do the interview.
I bring my interview questions with me, but I will only look at them 2-3 times during the actual interview.
The best answers I get for interviews come from follow up questions, because they establish a stronger connection between me and the interviewee; they know I'm paying attention to what they're saying, and are more inclined to give better answers.
6) Fact check and respond to quote review.
6) Fact check and respond to quote review.
Mr. Shankweiler shared a quote from Thomas Jefferson during the interview. After fact check, turns out it was by John Adams. I believe even the smallest fact check can make a big difference.
Mr. Foulk requested quote review. For our publication's standards, a request for quote review means we send the exact quotes from them that we plan to use in the story for approval.
It's rare, and usually reserved for teachers and adminstrators only.
These interviews made me fall in love with my school. I wanted my story to make other people feel the same. It was unnerving to hear about how different Haven used to be, but the enduring quirky spirit it has never lost was really captured through the conversations I had.
Even in The Panther Press’s critical moments, I hope our love for Haven shines through our paper. In stories like these, where we look at isolated events or people, our paper is in the unique position of capturing the character of this school.
It meant the world to me to have a chance to talk to these veteran teachers—they have so many stories to tell, and I’m really thankful I got a chance to hear just a few of them.
JUNE 24—A 40 year past inspires Haven's future.pdfUsing Reporting Skills in Features and Opinions
Using Reporting Skills in Features and Opinions
Features and opinions can get messy without proper communication. These are examples of stories where reporting skills had the potential to make or break the entire article.
I was nervous for this one; it was my first time interviewing some of these administrators, and it was definitely my first time interviewing four of them at once. It was my sophomore year, and I wanted to be a good role model for the freshman I was bylining this story with.
At first, I was scared to ask stupid questions. They were using big words and talking about complex ideas I didn’t understand, like “reimagining the way we interact with time as a construct.” I reminded myself that if I didn’t understand, the average student wouldn’t either—so I asked the “stupid” question. “How are you going to factor in student input for all of that?”
There was a slight pause. By the end of the superintendent’s response, I at least got the takeaway that he would have surveys, though he was now beholden to it on transcript. Now, I ask my questions through the lens of a regular student reading the paper. What would they want to know?
APRIL 24—Delayed bells.pdfGetting perspectives from the English teacher whose class was cut made it really important to be careful in how we framed our sourcing for this story. It was even harder because this was an opinion—I was the one who interviewed the English teacher, and I felt the main responsibility to relay his voice well without misrepresenting his situation or making any accusations on his behalf. It taught me to respect conflict. We also got amazing student quotes, and it helped me realize that this was a real problem in the culture of our school, represented through the singular conflict of AP Literature being cut. It gave me a foundation to write about greater cultural conflicts that our school faces through the lens of relevant and smaller-scale news.
DEC 24—Haven must more thoughtfully balance STEM, humanities.pdfThe problem this article addresses has been around since the very first issue of our publication—too many activities scheduled for a single time period, and a huge disparity between the people who overcommitted that time and the people who never use that time at all.
It was a challenge to call out my own interview biases to find people who weren’t just like me. This was a collective difficulty for everyone on this byline, because we’d initially made the mistake of assigning sections rather than collaborating throughout. We were completely missing a section on students who go home straight after the bell, instead of just students who stay for hours afterwards.
Once we started working together, the sections came together, and we were able to get interviews from the students who don’t use the activities time at all. It made for an amazing end product that spoke to the many perspectives in our school, something that, hopefully, all students can see their experience reflected in.
FEB 25—All the demands on one common time.pdfWriting
A Peek Into My Writing Process
A Peek Into My Writing Process
Alright, so we have good interview quotes. Now what? This is an example of a center spread I wrote with Evelynn on whether or not college is worth it. It required a lot of communication to get the writing as tight as we wanted it to be.
2) Find quotes from the transcripts.
2) Find quotes from the transcripts.
I'll usually try to put in quotes the same day I have the interview itself, while it's still fresh in my brain. I'll also start to form sections based off of what the interviews are looking like.
CENTER SPREAD_ Is College Worth It_.pdf3) Sketch out transitions as we add more quotes.
3) Sketch out transitions as we add more quotes.
Sometimes, if I'm not in the same room as someone I'm bylining with, I have to remember they can't read my mind. It's important to leave notes throughout the draft so we know what the other is planning.
CENTER SPREAD_ Is College Worth It_ (1).pdf4) Finish writing transitions...then cut.
4) Finish writing transitions...then cut.
This was a really, really hard story to cut down on. It's good to have too much rather than too little, but we sat down together after school one day and cut almost 2000 words of redundancy.
I explored the limits of my credibility as a student journalist and got a chance to interview experts Paul Tough and Michael Itzkowitz. However, while writing this story, an initial lack of direction almost made me miss important perspectives that needed to be spotlighted in my own community—a story with great experts is still not good enough without student input. It forced me to become more intentional with how I organize my stories in general, because without the clearly marked sections ahead of time, I would not have considered those perspectives. Writing with Evelynn helped me realize the importance of organized writing; she's super organized with her sections, and it helped us make a comprehensive story that would speak to every part of the student body.
APRIL 24—The hidden costs of higher education.pdfFor context, teachers were fighting for a fair contract during the year, a contract that should have been resolved months before. It meant they were coming to school with no guarantee of their work conditions or pay. We wrote this to support them, and to call other students to action in caring about this issue. I know a lot of students actually weren’t aware this was going on until we wrote this editorial, and our coverage of this topic over the summer to the somewhat resolution of the conflict was one of the first times we had delved into an issue with such prolonged reporting.
Editorials go through an extensive review process. We have editorial meetings at the beginning of every issue to lock down the topic for center spread and editorial. (They are usually related.) This year was the first year we planned out our topics ahead of time. What hasn't changed are the signatures. We require every editor to read the editorial thoroughly, leaving comments and questions. Once they've done that, they sign off on the editorial using a signature sheet. It's important to us that the editorial truly does reflect the views of the Editorial Board, and that all editors feel they can personally defend everything on the page.
SEPT 24—EDITORIAL.pdfThis story, a series of profiles, was a culmination of everything I learned. I wrote the profiles for Caroline in building trades and Lili in emergency services. I wanted to talk about how gender barriers played a role in their work, since that was the theme of the profiles, but I also had to make sure that didn’t overshadow their passion for the paths they were pursuing.
After publication, Lili, who never brags about anything, told me that the head of the firefighting department at our school sent the article to her mom knowing that Lili wouldn’t say anything about it, and now her mom shared it with their whole family. When people talk about impact, this is what I think of now—telling the stories that some people are too humble to talk about themselves, and making sure that everyone’s voice is celebrated in our community.
DEC 25-Haven girls breaking gender barriers.pdfPage updated
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