Marin high school newspaper wins national recognition
The Redwood Bark, the student newspaper of Redwood High School in Larkspur, won top honors at the National High School Journalism Convention in Philadelphia.
The Bark was ranked 10th in the “best of show” competition in the school’s size category. The convention, organized by the National Scholastic Press Association and the Journalism Education Association, took place Nov. 7 to 10.
About 45 Redwood students attended the convention, which drew about 5,000 student journalists and educators in print, digital and broadcast media from all over the country, said Erin Schneider, adviser to the Bark and a teacher in the school’s three-year journalism program. The Bark is published in print eight times a year and has a website.
“It’s pretty cool to see that journalism is alive and well,” Schneider said of the 200-plus student enrollment in the Redwood program. “This year we have more beginning journalists than ever before.”
More than 120 students are in the 10th-grade, first-year program, an English elective called “nonfiction” that focuses on journalism fundamentals. The first-year students do not publish in the Bark but produce a junior version of it.
In the 11th- and 12-grade “advanced journalism” program, the students write, edit and produce the Bark, a podcast and social media posts. More than 90 students are in the advanced program, Schneider said.
The themes of the two most recent print papers were suicide prevention in October and an advance primer on the Nov. 5 elections.
Matthew Knauer, a senior who is a top editor, said his passion about writing and the journalistic process grew as he has continued in the program.
“Finding the story and sharing voices of people who don’t always get to tell their stories is such a cool thing,” said Knauer, 17, of Tiburon. “And to be able to inform the community and make real change, based on your work, is such a cool thing.”
Senior Molly Gallagher, 17, of Larkspur said she caught the journalism bug in the first year of the program.
“I really liked getting out and meeting new people,” said Gallagher, who is review editor.
Gallagher said she appreciates the collaborative atmosphere at the newspaper.
“It’s a community,” she said. “We all push each other to be the best we can be.”
Jake Post, a junior who is a reporter for the paper, said he “loves the atmosphere” of the Bark classroom, which he said “feels almost like a family” within the larger school.
“I also love covering sports,” said Post, 17, of Kentfield, a baseball and basketball player himself. “It’s fun to be at games where there is a large attendance, to get involved and to tell people the story of what happened at the game.”
Charlotte Lacy, another top editor, said the program “has pushed me as a student and as a leader.”
“We all have different niches within this community,” said Lacy, 17, a senior who lives in Larkspur. “We strive to find those niches and to support people.”
Schneider said the students in the program are excited about telling stories of people in the community and especially about learning to be discerning around disinformation.
“In this political climate, kids want to know what is the truth,” she said.