Tenth Street Times: The First Year

As the 2021-2022 school year ends, many Northwest High School Publications Students have reflected on the various articles and projects completed, skills gained and connections formed throughout their time spent in room B302.

Over the course of the school year, publications students worked hard on various articles concerning prevalent topics/issues with the intention to inform the students and staff of Northwest High School. There were a variety of topics including the behind-the-scenes of local animal shelters, an update on the hospitalization of NWHS student-athlete Cael Winters, bus driver shortages in WCSD, recycling in NWHS, an interview with the Gubernatorial candidate, Deidre DeJear, social media trends and more, all of which were printed in the Tenth Street Times newspaper or uploaded to the Tenth Street Times website. 

During the first year of Northwest Publications, many students were able to strengthen their journalistic skills, meet new people, get out of their comfort zone and learn real-life people skills. Senior and returning publications student, Ariana Aponte, reflected, “I’ve strengthened my writing, but I also feel that I’ve learned people skills, like just asking questions, keeping the conversation going, maintaining eye contact, being professional. I feel like publications has really helped me to kind of transition myself into being comfortable in the workplace.”

Publications has provided great opportunities for all students. As a student-led class, staffers have been able to have lots of choices in the work they choose to pursue. Junior and returning Publications student, Kaid Smith-Fitzgerald, said, “I like web articles the best because of the freedom I have [with my writing.]” 

As well as various writing opportunities, publications has been a place where you can discover and apply a variety of strengths. Students have been able to explore other opportunities like graphic design, sports/events photography, business roles, leadership roles, running social media accounts and hopes for future multi-media opportunities. Sophomore and first-year publications student, Paige Finney, stated, “I have been interested in pursuing a career in business, and the prospect of being the business editor will certainly help grow and expand that interest. I would argue that every article I have written, has also helped me pursue interests, whether it was mental health, desserts, fashion and more.” 

After a long year and lots of hard work from all staffers, editors and advisors many are proud of the various challenges and difficulties students have overcome, to overall have a successful first-ever NWHS Publications year. “Publications is probably the most important class for building legitimate life skills and just building. I’m obviously biased, but I think you guys create so many different things and build so many different skills that you can’t in a traditional classroom,” reflected Mr. Blumberg, the Publications Advisor.

The publications classroom is always a fun and welcoming environment for all students to feel like they fit in. Many are optimistic about the future opportunities publications can provide in the 2022-2023 school year for returning and new NWHS publications students.