Last spring, MHS administration informed my fellow editors and me that—due to hard financial times—The Chief may not have been able to publish as many print issues during the 2012-2013 school year as it had published the previous year. Given the recent launch of our online paper and the need to cut unnecessary spending wherever possible, we were told that central administration hoped we would move towards a purely online paper, gradually reducing the frequency of print publications due to their cost.
While we acknowledge the necessity of frugality, every one of The Chief’s editors knows that our paper would not be the same without several print publications each year. Print publications are the pride of any high school newspaper; while our online paper is growing and is something we take pride in, a high school newspaper simply ceases to be a newspaper without the paper aspect.
“As an editor on The Chief, nothing was more rewarding than having my peers read and comment on my work,” Nick Barbieri ’12 said. “The print paper made that possible—students did not have to search for the paper online; it was handed to them. An online paper would never deliver that response.”
In addition, all emotional reasons aside, the newspaper is one of several extra-curricular activities offered at MHS which distinguishes our school and our students from others on Long Island; the district should continue to support print publication of The Chief until print newspapers become obsolete, because our print publications play an integral role in demonstrating the strength of Massapequa’s students.
Firstly, the school newspaper is an invaluable tool for any ambitious student looking to build his leadership and writing skills as well as his resume. I can speak to this importance personally, as my work on The Chief was the focal point of my college application. As a major element of my common application essay, the activity I wrote about in my common application, and the primary talking point of my college interviews, The Chief played an integral role in my acceptance to Brown University. My time as an editor and writer for the newspaper has also greatly strengthened my writing skills, ability to work with others, and ability to lead a group of peers—all key skills I will take with me to college. In fact, while extra-curricular activities are a major part of any college application, they are especially relevant to top universities, as applicants with near-perfect test scores and GPAs can easily be rejected by these schools; it is the it factor that helps one obtain an acceptance letter from a top school, and leadership positions in work-intensive, regionally competitive clubs such as mock trial and The Chief can be the factor which distinguishes a Massapequa student from others in an Ivy applicant pool.
“Selective colleges consistently refer to involvement with the school newspaper as a desirable extracurricular activity,” guidance chairperson Mr. Paul Weber said. “The ability of students to write creatively, express their thoughts, and find their own voice is integral to the selective college admissions process. The school newspaper provides a platform for development in all of these areas.”
To cease funding of print publications of The Chief would be to take away this potential it factor, and in doing so deprive ambitious students of a pathway to both a better resume and a more fulfilling high school experience. As last year’s chief copy editor Nick Barbieri said, students would never attain the same sense of fulfillment as editors of the paper if it were not printed, making the hours of effort necessary to be an editor of The Chief less appealing to future students. In addition to a less rewarding experience for future editors, removal of The Chief’s print publications would also make it impossible to maintain the quality the publication currently enjoys.
On Wednesday, May 22, The Chief’s staff went to the Long Island Press awards at Hofstra University. This year, The Chief received an unprecedented sixty-three awards at the ceremony. Most notably, the publication was honored as the second best high school newspaper of all thirty-plus high school newspapers on Long Island that entered, a source of pride for its editors, advisor, and for the district.
Principal Dr. Barbara Williams attested to the importance of The Chief. “The newspaper does perform a very specific function. It documents what happens in a specific year and can be used as an archive to assess how students felt about something at a given time. It also prepares students for college because it is a very intense commitment.”
Without its four annual print publications, The Chief could never have earned such high praise from the Long Island Press. In fact, very few of the awards offered to newspapers concerned online layout and writing. Furthermore, first place winner for newspaper of the year and perennial contender for the big prize, The Maroon Echo of Bayshore High School, does not even have an online issue, as is the case with many other high school publications on Long Island. It is clear that a print publication is still the standard for a successful high school paper, and with four issues of an average sixteen pages, The Chief could not be expected to maintain a standard of excellence relative to other papers—many of which print monthly—if it printed fewer issues per year.
The Chief is a source of pride for the school district, a major resource for any student wishing to improve his resume, and an invaluable experience for students interested in leadership or journalism. Reducing funding for our print issues or discontinuing funding altogether would undermine our ability to inform the student body, preclude us from creating an overall publication which can compete with the best on Long Island, and ultimately mitigate the importance and desirability of a position on our editorial staff, devaluing the club as an asset for students whose time on the paper may help them gain acceptance to prestigious universities. Thus, it is the earnest hope of our editors that the district will continue to fund the print issues of The Chief, both so that we may continue to do what we love and so that Massapequa’s students may experience ever-increasing success.