A Day in Las Lomas Journalism
Everybody knows that about once a month a new issue of The Page is created and distributed to students of Las Lomas, but what you may not know is the process The Page staff goes through to produce the publication.
As a writer for the Las Lomas Page, I’m here to tell you the steps taken to create The Page and what happens during the average journalism period.
When the time comes to create a new issue, the class gathers and each student presents story ideas that could eventually be written into interesting and informative articles. The ideas that are most liked are typed onto a Google Doc, where the writers can then choose an idea they want to take on and make into a story. Once chosen, writers are in charge of creating a story plan that lays out the main idea or angle of their story, lists people they need to interview, and deadlines that decide when each draft of the story will be done. These plans will then be given to their section editor for that issue to be approved and then sent off to begin the writing process.
While writing, section editors will help their writers develop an angle for their article, check in on the story, and then edit once finished. During the editing process, section editors will give writers helpful advice on how to improve their story, making corrections like grammar fixes, changing sentence structure, punctuation changes, and making sure to “localize” the story to Walnut Creek and even more, the students of Las Lomas. During the editing process, other students can copy-edit each other’s articles, where they can write in recommendations on how to make the article better.
Our journalism period usually begins with our teacher and advisor, Ms. Anders, making a game plan and giving us tips and tricks to creating a quality article. “Journalism is the fourth pillar of democracy,” says Anders. “Getting students engaged in reporting for their community, in asking good questions, in creating the best, most eye-catching design is a lot of work, but totally worth it. This class challenges me everyday in all the best ways. I am terribly proud of my journalists.” Once work begins, the journalism room is always lively. For example, sophomore Charlie Rosen, a journalism student, says, “I like writing and making a positive impact on the Las Lomas community”.
Finally, The Page staff is excited to reveal a new talk show segment hosted by Mark Barram and Marcus Lin called “The Mark Show.” Be sure to be on the lookout for the new show coming soon to our website.
