On November 6th and 7th, Luke Trevisan ’24, Alex Laidlaw ’25, Jaiden Lee ’26, and Adrian Chen ’28 represented the Panel on a journey to the Columbia Scholastic Press Association conference in New York City. There, they sought to acquire further knowledge in journalism to improve our newspaper’s content and operations.
The editors, selected for their roles in the school paper, engaged in five 45-minute sessions where keynote speakers guided them through the essential components of reporting news. The variety of topics covered in these talks included sports writing, interviewing, photography, press laws, and reading through misinformation. The Panel staff chose their own preferred lectures based on individual interests.
In this collaborative program, other schools from around the nation shared their findings and methods in the field of journalism. Luke Trevisan ’24 noticed that many other schools had incorporated journalism into their curriculum, meeting multiple times a week. He hopes that in the near future, new courses will be added at Belmont Hill to enhance the quality of news reporting. Additionally, Alex Laidlaw ’25 plans on applying his experiences with teachers from the St. Mark’s School of Texas to refine the sports writing section, incorporating more articles about school sports for future editions of the Panel.
Based on their experience, Trevisan ’24 and Laidlaw ’25 already plan to advocate for several other specific initiatives for the Panel in coming years, including a revamp of the sports section and higher-quality interviews throughout the sections. In Trevisan’s vision of the future, he wishes for “more color to the [sports] articles,” urging sports writers to attend every Belmont Hill game for richer descriptions of unfolding events in the newspaper. Internal improvements are also on the horizon, aiming to enhance the efficiency and quality of the Panel.
The trip to Columbia University was a great experience for the students and in the near future, there will hopefully be similar opportunities for editors and staff writers to come. The Panel thanks Mr. Zellner for graciously chaperoning the trip.
