In today’s day and age, news can be overwhelming with how it is presented on the internet apps such as TikTok, YouTube, Instagram, Twitter, and others. Luckily, Rancho Cucamonga High School’s journalism class and program provide students and the Rancho community with news around the school and the world.
Students in journalism learn the purpose of journalism and how it helps the school and community, with help from Ms. Christina Schneider, the journalism advisor.
Journalism is a class where students write and publish stories about events on and off campus. The students in journalism publish the school’s online and print newspaper, The Cat’s Eye.
In the class, journalism students uncover the purpose of journalism, its impact, and its responsibilities.
“Journalism is the writing and reporting about important events and facts that are impacting students and the community that they live in,” Schneider said.
Schneider pointed out how journalism in schools isn’t just about reporting events; it’s being a storyteller on campus. Giving students the voice to know what’s happening, making sure everyone understands what’s going on at school, and getting to highlight the stories and people that make RCHS interesting.
“In a school setting, a really important purpose is that the staff writes and reports on all the information happening on campus. They serve as a voice for the student population and they can highlight interesting stories and interesting people through their stories,” Schneider said.
Journalism has been helping part with the false news with students, Schneider states, “Many teenagers today get their news on social media and that information is not reliable or accurate, so with the class students learn how to report accurate information and they start sharing that information with their peers.”
Schneider states her point of view on what students gain and develop when in journalism, “Students have the opportunity to take journalism all four years in a row if they want to and so they can gain a community, they can gain friendships. They learn and they get to know a lot of people on campus”
Schneider continued, “They gain a lot of interpersonal communication skills when they go out and interview people, especially when it’s people they don’t know. They gain confidence, become better writers, and they have their writing published.”
Two of the Journalism editors shared their thoughts about journalism.
Senior Shareen Siddiqui, the Editor-in-Chief said, “Journalism is a way to creatively write things that I’m passionate about, and work with others on subjects that can usually be not talked about.”
During class time, Siddiqui’s job is to look over her classmates’ stories before they get published to ensure that they follow all the guidelines and represent quality journalism.
“I think that journalism in the world is very important because it is a way for people to express how they feel on topics, and not necessarily get negative feedback all the time,” said Siddiqui. “I think it’s a way for people to be informed on certain things and to look back on it and it is a huge part of our history.”
But, Siddiqui isn’t the only one that believes journalism is enjoyable.
Sophomore and Student Life Editor Bailee Small said, “Journalism is just a way to spread information and get the true story out there.”
Small talked about her role as Student Life Editor and how she does her role, within the Journalism community and class, and what they could gain.
“I prioritize the more timely story first as you could always do the more fun stories later on. You do get your computer credit. It is also lots of fun interviewing people and taking pictures at football games,” Small said.
Small also discussed her favorite memory within Journalism.
“I was taking photos at a football game with Teegan, [the Journalism News editor] for homecoming, it was lots of fun and we got a lot of good pictures together,” Small said.
Journalism is something that many people enjoy. Dr. Sherri Berwick, the Assistant Principal of Instruction, said, “journalism to me is an art. I have an extensive journalism background; I was in journalism science. I was in middle school, editor-in-chief of my middle school paper, and went to high school and went up the ranks.”
Berwick continued, “I also received a journalism scholarship from the press telegram newspaper in Long Beach, so I was able to go to college on a Journalism scholarship. I did journalism my first year in college and then I took on other interests. But for me, journalism is a way to express yourself and share information with the public, whoever that public is, whether it’s the school campus or the actual public. It is to share news stories, news events, and things like that, it’s a way to write and be able to share that with the public.”
RCHS is a large campus with over three thousand students, not including the large number of teachers, principals, and overall staff. Journalism, especially the actual Newspaper can help students understand school events and topics around school.
Berwick said, “It [journalism] helps relay information because, with a campus like this, that’s so large nobody can know what’s going on at every moment, so journalism is a way to share the different events, and share the different viewpoint and just different stories that are happening on campus, that everyone is not aware of.”
A message that Dr Beriwck leaves for all Journalism students showing her love and appreciation for them and the art form.
“I would like to add that I hope all the journalism students value that they are fulfilling an important role. I know that it’s a lot of work behind the scenes so sometimes it feels unappreciated but they are appreciated and I hope all the Journalism students know that they’re preserving history.”
