By Lauren Kee ’24
Thirty-six thousand copies of the paper. One hundred thirty contributors. Twelve issues. One masthead. In the blink of an eye, a year of The Choate News under the direction of the 117th Masthead is coming to an end.
Our friends have probably heard our complaints about staying up way past curfew on layout nights (we’ll avoid sharing exact numbers in case our advisers get upset), stressing over conducting last-minute interviews, or scrambling for ways to fill in the big blank spaces in the middle of a page. So why do we do it? Why do we spend hours upon hours every week creating the paper?
The answer is simple: we do it for creativity, for that feeling of satisfaction and relief when we send it off to the publishers, for the lifelong relationships we’ve formed, and for the growth we’ve undergone as editors and as people.
We started the year by training our new contributors. The Project Room was brimming with eager-eyed reporters, whose energy carried us through the rest of the year on Sunday night assignment meetings. If you’re even a minute late to the Microsoft Teams group chat where Graphics Editor Melody Qian ’24 sends out assignments, you’re out of luck — they’re all taken. But, perhaps you’d be interested in designing for our new comic strip, “The Boaring Life,” or putting your New York Times Mini Crossword skills to the test by creating an issue-related puzzle, with clues hidden in the issue’s articles.
Next, what began as a seedling of an idea to expand our online presence became weekly posts highlighting recent articles on Instagram. Led by Head of Marketing Dana Tan ’25, our new video series What’s Shakin’, Bacon? has amassed over 85,000 views in 24 episodes since last spring. Every day, we get notifications of new followers from our reels. Dining hall interviews have become commonplace, and students know to expect a question or two from the hosts when they saunter between the tables with a mic in hand. From Spirit Week fit-checks to interviews about campus crushes, the series has shone a light on the personalities of the Choate community, even receiving a shoutout from the Head of Student and Academic Life Ms. Jenny Elliott at a recent School Meeting. Throughout the year, more and more people have approached us on the paths with questions and comments about recent articles, videos, and posts — a testament to our engaged readership.
Our growth as editors can also be tracked by the number of hours spent in the Newsroom for Tuesday night layout — as we’ve slowly gotten the hang of Adobe InDesign, the hours spent hunched over the nine-point Georgia font of our paper have been replaced by heartfelt moments chatting with our fellow editors instead. The catalog of songs we’ve blasted over the Newsroom speakers has expanded, and we can count on more friendly faces to give us a wave and a smile in between classes.
While numbers help quantify some types of growth, other types are immeasurable. For one, there’s the value of the new friendships we’ve made from The Choate News community. When we return in a few years for Reunion Weekend, we will be able to bond over the late nights we spent together, dancing to Britney Spears to activate the creative juices needed to write an engaging headline, or our trips to the Tuck Shop for an editing snack of curly fries. Braving a strict publishing schedule with a tight turnaround is certainly one way to bring together a mishmash of 22 editors from all corners of campus.
Then, there’s our growing love and passion for journalism. In a world where misinformation and fake news plague our media intake, the search for justice in truth is ever more important. This effort begins at school publications, where we can hone our journalistic instincts and reporting techniques.
Being editors has been an invaluable learning experience that makes us more curious individuals. Albeit on a small level, we hope our work has impacted the School community in one way or another, whether it be through highlighting a student’s impressive achievement, unveiling a new school development project, or simply documenting everyday happenings for the history books in the Archives.
An emblem of a successful publication is growth — growth to keep up with the changing times and growth to widen the reach of its stories. We are certain that the 118th Masthead will continue to help the publication flourish and bloom, and we can’t wait to see how they will continue to push what The Choate News can accomplish in one short year.
To our loyal readers and contributors, thanks for sticking it out with us. Peace out.
With Love,
The 117th Masthead
