Co-editor-in-chiefs Abby Rothrock and Tavroop Kaur received the devastating news last spring that Journalism would not be running as a class at Centennial for the 2024-25 school year. Now, the two have persevered and found a way to maintain the integrity of “The Wingspan” while running Journalism as a club.

According to Centennial principal Ms. Joelle Miller, only about 12 students signed up to take Journalism this school year, and Centennial “can’t run a class with low numbers.” For the first time, “The Wingspan” staff had to learn how to run as a club during their “Eagle Time” advisory and after school, instead of as a daily class.

Howard High School’s “The Lion’s Tale” faced threats like Centennial last spring. Following the possibility of the Journalism class cut at Howard, co-editor in chiefs Nicole Parker and Carlee Pugh and their adviser Ms. Julia Carter went to administration to fight for the life of their publication.

“When I was initially told about the decision to cut Journalism, I spoke with the principal Mr. Fleming about the history of the paper and its importance,” Ms. Carter said. “He and I also discussed the course content, and how difficult it would be to maintain the quality of the program in an after school club.”

Ms. Carter, Nicole, and Carlee’s hard work put Journalism back on the Howard High School schedule, but Ms. Carter says she does not want “The Lion’s Tale” to “be an exception.” She says it is awful that the future of student Journalism at the high school level is threatened at all.

Graduated Howard County Journalism students recognize the disservice being done by threatening and cutting high school Journalism programs. Zoe MacDiarmid, a past editor-in-chief of Wilde Lake’s “The Paw Print” who now serves as a deputy campus editor for Northeastern University’s “The Huntington News,” says it is painful to know there are students who are going to miss out on opportunities in high school because they do not have a Journalism class.

“Student publications give students opportunities that I don’t think any other class provides,” said Zoe. “Journalism taught me how to be a leader. I wouldn’t be the same person I am today without high school Journalism.”

Recognizing the importance of having a newspaper, Abby and Tavroop took on the challenge of running “The Wingspan” as a club. They, along with their advisor Mr. Rus VanWestervelt, host “The Wingspan” meetings during their “Eagle Time,” a thirty minute advisory each Wednesday, and after school biweekly. The staff has adapted to meeting twice a month as opposed to on a daily basis by running workshops for their new staff members.

“We’ve been running workshops during “Eagle Time” with each section, like layout, photography, and writing, because we don’t have the structured class for people to learn these skills anymore,” said Abby.
Mr. VanWestervelt says he is appreciative of the hard work the editors have put into teaching their new staff the basics of Journalism to have a successful newspaper.

“At first, it was a real challenge to establish a new team and then teach them the basics of journalistic writing, photography, and marketing. The tenacity of the editors, however, overcame this challenge by holding workshops,” Mr. VanWestervelt said. “I can’t express how appreciative I am of our editors who have turned a crisis into a major accomplishment for ‘The Wingspan.’”

While having to run a newspaper during such little school time has been a huge commitment and responsibility for Abby and Tavroop, they say it has benefited “The Wingspan” in some ways. The newspaper had to run as a club because of low enrollment, but running the newspaper during “Eagle Time” has greatly increased the staff size.

“We have a considerable amount of people come, more than would have registered for the class.” Tavroop said. Around 30-40 students contribute to the newspaper from writing to photography. “What we’ve discovered is a lot of people would have taken Journalism if it fit into their schedule. Because it’s a club now, it’s accessible to so many more people.”

While “The Wingspan” continues to flourish this school year, Abby and Tavroop say running the newspaper as a club is not sustainable for forever.

“Our main goal is to create enough traction, attention, and love for Journalism within the school that people will register for the class,” said Tavroop. “The newspaper is supposed to be a class. We can’t as a club ensure the quality of news that we want.” The co-editor-in-chiefs hope to bring attention to “The Wingspan” so that Journalism will be put on the Centennial schedule next year.

In the meantime, Abby and Tavroop continue to uphold the standards of “The Wingspan” from when it was run as a class, ensuring their newspaper serves as a record of what the Centennial community experiences.

“We as students are historians of the school. Journalism and the newspaper offer a voice to students, and that’s super empowering and important when we’re in these formative years,” said Tavroop.

Not only does “The Wingspan” offer a voice to the community, but Abby says it teaches students real world skills, which is why it is so important to run Journalism as a class.

“What people don’t realize is there’s so much you can do with the knowledge that you learn in Journalism. There are real world skills that you learn in this class, like communication skills and writing,” said Abby. “If people would recognize how important Journalism is, it would bring a lot more awareness.”

Abby and Tavroop never give up on their newspaper, their staff, and their community.

“I’m really proud of the way we, our staff, and our advisor are responding to this,” Tavroop said. “We could have given up, but we’re persevering because we feel that Journalism is so vital to the community and the culture at Centennial.”