Student Newspaper Beats Deadlines, Expectations

At the local newspaper, paid subscriptions are down while visitors to the free website are up, which is problematic for revenues. One of advisers had to depart last year, and everyone is now doing more with less. The work is difficult, the pay is nonexistent and the hours are long. But almost everyone there loves what they do.

Welcome to Inklings, the Staples High School student newspaper and the oldest publication in Westport. Since 1931, the paper has been racking up awards and diving deep into issues ranging from the lack of diversity in town to gender stereotypes on the cheerleading squad.

On a recent Monday evening, the students put together the first big issue of the year. About a dozen students create a frenzied atmosphere that probably only existed at the big newspapers when they were fully staffed years ago.

Junk food is plentiful, and there's a cacophony of typing, conversations and laughter. Everyone involved takes the newspaper seriously, but there's an air of goofiness that helps with the long hours. A detached wax head from swords and sandals epic "Ben-Hur" rests near the door. In the back is a Homer Simpson poster.

Petey Menz, a senior and one of two executive editors for Inklings, says that the goal is to get 95 percent of the paper done that day, and then finish the rest on Tuesday.

"What ends up happening is that last five percent takes five or six hours," he says.

At times it might not seem possible, but the paper will get done. It always does. When a snow day is predicted for a Tuesday, they will stay until 10 p.m. to wrap up the issue. If a story is in way past deadline, then the editors will still make the edits needed no matter how late it is.

And if a story doesn't come in at all because the writer has been hospitalized, as was the case on Monday, they'll find a way to fill that empty space.

"No one knows [how hard they work], says Stephen Rexford, one of two faculty advisers for Inklings and a graduate of Staples.

In the classroom

Inklings may get put together after school, but it begins in the classroom. Four times a week, 52 students gather to work on the paper. For the first ten minutes, Rexford usually lectures about what it means to be a journalist.

"Let this be a reminder to you that you are a little different," he says, holding up a press pass during a recent class.

If you're wearing the pass and sitting in the stands during a sporting event, you're doing it wrong, he says. If you're sitting in the back of the Board of Education meeting with the parents, you're doing it wrong.

Some of the students take notes. Others are thinking up stories ideas. After his brief lecture, the journalists break up into groups and begin working. Some work on the website. Others gear up for the issue that needs to be finished in a week. Others prepare for the issue due in a month. Rexford and Beth Humphrey, the other faculty adviser, offer guidance, but the students work on their own.

The story ideas, the front page layout and everything else comes from the students/

"You have to be self motivated, independent and interested in journalism," says Devin Skolnick, an executive editor of Inklings and summer intern for Patch.

With the school year just started, Rexford acknowledges that some of them are a little raw. By the time they finish the course, he has high hopes for all the students.

First, he wants them to experience the camaraderie of a news organization.

Second, he hopes that they become "good citizens" who "understand what it means to be in a democracy and the unmatchable importance of the first amendment."

Finally, and perhaps most importantly, he wants them to ask 'why?' whenever they hear something.

"It can be anything from a new policy, the Board of Education or an award that somebody got," he says.

Deadline

On that Monday, the October 1 issue is beginning to take shape. The front page story – about whether or not teens follow driving laws – is being edited. The features pages, which take a look at students who take easy courses simply to boost their grades, is practically finished.

One student couldn't finish a story, so the features editors had to work quickly. They pieced together a photo spread from the grand opening of the Wakeman Town Farm.

Editors assign deadlines well before the late nights where they have to layout the pages. The writers usually file them on time.

"They'll receive a lot of phone calls and texts," says news editor Stevie Klein.
"They can't [avoid us]."

When the paper is finished, it's sent to a printing press in Wappingers Falls, N.Y. By Friday, the issue will be distributed throughout the school. Print, as the news industry knows, isn't cheap. The typical issue costs about $1,300 to produce, which does not include revenues from ads and subscriptions. It also doesn't include the typical pizza budget. Rexford, half-joking, says that total cost of pizzas for the late-night sessions adds another $100.

A subscription is $30.00 and checks can be made payable to Inklings. The address is

Inklings, Staples High School, 70 North Avenue, Westport, CT 06880