If you’ve ever told your friends or family about a sports event, music festival, or all the new developments around town you discovered during your evening walk, you’ve become somewhat of a journalist–whether you know it or not!
Or, if you’ve ever worked on a school project, chances are that you’ve designed some sort of artwork, crafted a Google Slides presentation to your liking, or written a story about something that deeply interests you.
All of these forms of expression and art are what define Highland Park High School’s Shoreline Newspaper and the club behind it. After being restored from an extended hiatus, Shoreline began publishing the voices of our community’s diverse body this past fall. Since then, club membership has almost doubled, and over forty articles have been published!
However, there are plenty of stories in our community that go unnoticed, and plenty of students who love sharing our community’s experiences from their lens leave their journalistic potential unrealized. So, how does Shoreline benefit them, and how does the club work?
How It Works
Shoreline is open to any student at HPHS who wants to improve their writing, photography, or news coverage skills! No prior experience is required. The club meets at the start of each week (typically, at 7:45am on Mondays) in the library.
Students pitch ideas to cover any topic in our community, from sports to fine arts or to our school’s policies. They can also request an existing story proposal of which they will be assigned to, and can work alone or with other club members. From there, they write about their chosen topic, interview students and staff of the HPHS community, and submit their articles for revision and approval by the Managing Editors. Once approved, the article will be sent to the Editors-in-Chief for the same process, and it will be repeated one last time after being sent to the Advisor.
It is important to note, however, that each article requires an illustration or cover photo, and additional photos are encouraged. However, the club’s illustrators and photographers can be assigned to complete that task if the writer is unable or uncomfortable to do so. This also means that illustrators can join Shoreline to create these stunning images without writing articles!
After everything is completed and approved, your article will be published here on the website for our community to see! If you haven’t published an article before, your name will be added to the list of Staff Writers for the current school year, and a profile containing all of your articles or illustrations will be created. Your voice and creativity is now forever a part of the school’s history!
Why should you join Shoreline?
While Shoreline is great for aspiring journalists who want to put their voice out there, the benefits of writing and/or illustrating for the club reach far beyond “learning how to cover stories.” Students at all levels of involvement—from staff writers to editors in chief—learn how to work in a team environment while strengthening their planning and writing skills. For example, junior and soon-to-be Managing Editor Penelope Kapple strongly believes that the collaborative aspect of Shoreline is the most beneficial:
“One of the most beneficial parts of being on Shoreline is that you learn how to work on a team while keeping yourself accountable,” Kapple said. “Everyone’s work relies on each other, but at the same time, you have to figure out how to write the article, find people to interview, and create a well-rounded story independently.”
Students also learn how to engage or persuade audiences, write in a stylistic manner, or “effectively utilize their voice,” as Co-Editor-in-Chief (and founding member of the “new” Shoreline newspaper) Addison Edelstein puts it:
“The newspaper has always been a place that empowered my willingness and ability to vocalize my opinion…it reminded us that students do have a say or voice in what happens around us in our community.”
Whether you’re ready to capture a moment or share your perspective, Shoreline is your chance to make your voice heard. Don’t let your stories go untold—join the countless students who have shaped the story of our community!