About Me: The Power of a Student Journalist's Perspective
“There is a culture of fighting in public schools.”
8:00 a.m. five new emails.
I had used the term “fight culture” in an email I sent to the superintendent of Harrisonburg City Public Schools to explain what my story idea was all about. By the time I woke up the next morning, this email had been forwarded to my principal, and she had asked my adviser to set up a meeting to “debrief off the record.”
This email stemmed from witnessing the most intense fight I’d seen all year between two students during my lunch period. The cafeteria fell silent, and everyone watched as administrators struggled to put an end to it. Walking back to class all I could think about was that if I felt so disturbed after this encounter, I wonder if other students felt the same way? I considered my experience coming from a private school, thrown right in the middle of two separate public middle schooIs and then into the public high school. I had witnessed student altercations to very different extents in all of those environments. I realized that I could find an answer to this question through my outlet as a student journalist. I talked to my adviser and she encouraged me to reach out and get the full story. We later realized, however, that this topic was going to require more research than we had planned.
My word choice, calling fighting a “culture” in schools, caused my school administration to seek to discredit or question my true ideas and intentions. I quickly went from confident about myself as a student journalist and confident in my ideas to thinking, “I never should have sent that email.”
The questions my adviser has always asked my staff and I when we decide to cover something is, “Why are you covering this? What do you hope will happen as a result of this being published?” I made sure to ask myself these questions.
To prepare for my meeting with my principal, I wrote down everything I could think of to back up my story idea. I was searching to include my administration as a stakeholder perspective. I wanted to remember to share how it feels as a student to witness fights, comments I’ve heard from my peers on the subject, as well as to go more in depth into the reality of how truly normal and accepted it does feel as a public school student, to watch a physical altercation in the middle of your day. I didn’t want to forget anything I had discussed with my peers or adviser to prove the true thoughtful intent behind my idea as well as gather input from an adult perspective. I was starting to understand that the real question I had to answer was: How could I write about fights in school without making our school seem like a terrible place?
After a thorough off-the-record meeting that left me feeling doubtful of my original ideas, we went ahead with coverage. I was encouraged to write the story but was also questioned regarding the background for it. Despite my meticulous notes, I felt unprepared to explain how I believed many students felt. I was left feeling like I was writing a completely different story than I had gone into the meeting planning.
This uneasiness reminded me of a similar story from junior year when we wanted to tackle the subject of drug use in relation to mental health at our high school after our student body lost three students to overdoses. Again, when we presented this coverage idea to our principal, we were challenged to justify our perspective, as she did not view drug use to be as significant as we knew it was and is within our school.
Once again, the question was: How do you write about drug abuse in your school without making it seem like your school is full of drug addicts? First, our editorial board sat down with our principal to share our personal experiences on the subject. We knew we could never truly make our principal fully see the situation through our eyes, but I think we did for a minute through this conversation. To explain something in a way so that another can feel what it’s like to walk in your shoes is a difficult task. After many interviews with administration and the student body, our package was full of many perspectives, images and data that proved we did have a story. This assignment was the first time I had experienced being up close and personal to a very real story that deserved to be told, even though it was hard. I learned that meeting with administration to explain your idea is just the first step. From there, you hope that the product will do an even better job of showing the reader a topic through students' eyes and shining a light on something that often seems hidden from many adults, parents and even students.
The meeting that I had with my principal regarding fights in school, not only made me realize that I had a different perspective than the administration did, but also made me question whether I had a different perspective from other students as well. In order to ensure that I had truly covered all sides of the story, I went back to interview my principal, talked to assistant principals, teachers, students and parents. Although questioning my perspective originally filled me with doubt, it has time and time again pushed my staff and I to cover the issues we know are relevant to fellow teenagers. These issues undoubtedly take more in-depth inquiry and reflection, but they are stories that need to be told.
Having the courage to go after stories such as these is challenging, especially when more-experienced adults seem to be discouraging you from pursuing those ideas. However, the gift of journalism - of storytelling - can have a profound impact if student journalists continue to take advantage of it. I believe our unique perspective is our power. We tell stories that adults may not even have thought of because we truly understand and can relate to who we are covering. We as student journalists are living the lives of teenagers. We know what it feels like, what issues are important and we often have the courage to tackle the issues that adults don’t want to admit are real.
These difficult stories required thoughtful planning and determination to be produced, but they have brought about awareness and potential solutions for our student body and administration.
My goal is to continue to find the unique perspective. I want to continue listening to that instinct to tell stories as I evolve and grow as a journalist. Being a student journalist has taught me to trust myself, my ideas and most importantly, the power of perspective.
8:00 a.m. five new emails.
I had used the term “fight culture” in an email I sent to the superintendent of Harrisonburg City Public Schools to explain what my story idea was all about. By the time I woke up the next morning, this email had been forwarded to my principal, and she had asked my adviser to set up a meeting to “debrief off the record.”
This email stemmed from witnessing the most intense fight I’d seen all year between two students during my lunch period. The cafeteria fell silent, and everyone watched as administrators struggled to put an end to it. Walking back to class all I could think about was that if I felt so disturbed after this encounter, I wonder if other students felt the same way? I considered my experience coming from a private school, thrown right in the middle of two separate public middle schooIs and then into the public high school. I had witnessed student altercations to very different extents in all of those environments. I realized that I could find an answer to this question through my outlet as a student journalist. I talked to my adviser and she encouraged me to reach out and get the full story. We later realized, however, that this topic was going to require more research than we had planned.
My word choice, calling fighting a “culture” in schools, caused my school administration to seek to discredit or question my true ideas and intentions. I quickly went from confident about myself as a student journalist and confident in my ideas to thinking, “I never should have sent that email.”
The questions my adviser has always asked my staff and I when we decide to cover something is, “Why are you covering this? What do you hope will happen as a result of this being published?” I made sure to ask myself these questions.
To prepare for my meeting with my principal, I wrote down everything I could think of to back up my story idea. I was searching to include my administration as a stakeholder perspective. I wanted to remember to share how it feels as a student to witness fights, comments I’ve heard from my peers on the subject, as well as to go more in depth into the reality of how truly normal and accepted it does feel as a public school student, to watch a physical altercation in the middle of your day. I didn’t want to forget anything I had discussed with my peers or adviser to prove the true thoughtful intent behind my idea as well as gather input from an adult perspective. I was starting to understand that the real question I had to answer was: How could I write about fights in school without making our school seem like a terrible place?
After a thorough off-the-record meeting that left me feeling doubtful of my original ideas, we went ahead with coverage. I was encouraged to write the story but was also questioned regarding the background for it. Despite my meticulous notes, I felt unprepared to explain how I believed many students felt. I was left feeling like I was writing a completely different story than I had gone into the meeting planning.
This uneasiness reminded me of a similar story from junior year when we wanted to tackle the subject of drug use in relation to mental health at our high school after our student body lost three students to overdoses. Again, when we presented this coverage idea to our principal, we were challenged to justify our perspective, as she did not view drug use to be as significant as we knew it was and is within our school.
Once again, the question was: How do you write about drug abuse in your school without making it seem like your school is full of drug addicts? First, our editorial board sat down with our principal to share our personal experiences on the subject. We knew we could never truly make our principal fully see the situation through our eyes, but I think we did for a minute through this conversation. To explain something in a way so that another can feel what it’s like to walk in your shoes is a difficult task. After many interviews with administration and the student body, our package was full of many perspectives, images and data that proved we did have a story. This assignment was the first time I had experienced being up close and personal to a very real story that deserved to be told, even though it was hard. I learned that meeting with administration to explain your idea is just the first step. From there, you hope that the product will do an even better job of showing the reader a topic through students' eyes and shining a light on something that often seems hidden from many adults, parents and even students.
The meeting that I had with my principal regarding fights in school, not only made me realize that I had a different perspective than the administration did, but also made me question whether I had a different perspective from other students as well. In order to ensure that I had truly covered all sides of the story, I went back to interview my principal, talked to assistant principals, teachers, students and parents. Although questioning my perspective originally filled me with doubt, it has time and time again pushed my staff and I to cover the issues we know are relevant to fellow teenagers. These issues undoubtedly take more in-depth inquiry and reflection, but they are stories that need to be told.
Having the courage to go after stories such as these is challenging, especially when more-experienced adults seem to be discouraging you from pursuing those ideas. However, the gift of journalism - of storytelling - can have a profound impact if student journalists continue to take advantage of it. I believe our unique perspective is our power. We tell stories that adults may not even have thought of because we truly understand and can relate to who we are covering. We as student journalists are living the lives of teenagers. We know what it feels like, what issues are important and we often have the courage to tackle the issues that adults don’t want to admit are real.
These difficult stories required thoughtful planning and determination to be produced, but they have brought about awareness and potential solutions for our student body and administration.
My goal is to continue to find the unique perspective. I want to continue listening to that instinct to tell stories as I evolve and grow as a journalist. Being a student journalist has taught me to trust myself, my ideas and most importantly, the power of perspective.