By: Krissy Hetherington, ’21 – Chief Editor

As this school year comes to an end today, I would like to take the time to reflect simply on what this Journalism class has accomplished this year.

Some stats as taken about a week ago: our online newspaper had 37,869 pageviews and 8,264 users visit our website. Plus this story, Redwood Gigantea was able to publish 392 stories online.

Per usual, we work online and post a few stories weekly and this year we tripled the amount of stories that were published from last year. It took a lot of assigning, interviews, photo galleries, or running around school exchanging numbers with “that one kid” to get a quote from someone who didn’t even have a first period. It took long hours at night piecing together interviews and commentary to tell a story that only we could provide you with insight on. Although more stories meant tons more editing and suggestions, it was an honor to personally watch writers grow and step out of their comfort zones to try new things per story.

As well as online, we published four seasonal print edition newspapers; Cowhide edition, Winter Break edition, Love Week edition, and our most recent Tribute to the Senior Class edition. Every paper, we learned more PhotoShop skills, set more reasonable deadlines, and planned ahead to put out our best work possible. By taking Macbooks home and working all weekend on laying out the best possible structure to messing around with new header ideas.

A small group of about 15 individuals also committed and dedicated their time and effort towards achieving a goal that was set years and years ago, we published a magazine, called “Roots,” centered around the idea of school spirit and culture as well as change. Major shoutout to Makenzie Collins, ’19, and Colin Watamura, ’19 for their decision to say yes to this project, commit to making a plan, and following through with it all semester long. Thank you both for all you have done for this class and whether it was 3 years or 1 year, you both have left really big shoes to fill.

It was a total of 32 pages of bright vivid color and in depth stories that allowed writers to be more vulnerable than usual. Although we were only able to publish online and had out two hard copies to the two seniors on their official last day of high school, it’s something to look forward to next year.

We were granted many great lessons and learning experiences by taking on hard stories to write as teenagers in high school but were able to put out mature, honest information. Overall some major stories we were able to cover were:

The plan moving forward into next year will be very different as I remain Editor in Chief and have decided to make some new changes with the help of Mr. Miller of course. It was confirmed this week that we will have two full classes of Journalism next year. With already over 90 kids that chose this class as a class next year, we wanted to split it up between writers and designers. So one class, that I will work with learning to conduct interviews, write and put together a story, will be full of new excited faces. In the other will most likely be Journalism 2 students interested in different parts of publication for the Gigantea. I have named 5 people to be my Assistants and overall lead groups in the other class:

  • Ads and Marketing- Annabelle Williamson, ’21
  • Online (podcasts, video, online stories)- Leah Navarro, ’20
  • Print Edition- Sameh Esmaelli, ’21
  • Magazine- Kaleah Syvirathphan, ’21
  • Photography Manager- Abby Miller, ’22

Although this is still kind of fluffy, we have many goals and new ideas moving into next year with hopefully more print editions, deeper stories, more photo galleries and podcasts, a potential video, and follow through with publishing and printing an official magazine.

I would like to personally shout out my fellow Editor In Chief this year, Valeria Rojas, ’19, who although graduated two days ago, has left her mark on Journalism. She pushed me to work hard and put all my effort into things I have a passion for. She was quiet but deadly with her words. She was self-dependent and got stuff done. A major story she was able to focus on throughout the second semester was her Vaping Awareness story in the Magazine. I got to watch her work hard, face difficult decisions, and accumulate information only she would be able to receive. I’m gonna miss joking with her about roller-coaster of emotions but so excited to see what the future holds for her.

And last but certainly not least, a warm thank you to our adviser, Mr. Miller. We would not be as far as we have grown now without his love and passion for this class and all it has to offer. We as a whole would like to thank you for the coffee maker, being a rad dad to come to whenever we felt lonely or just needed a place to hang at lunch. Thank you for allowing us the freedom to create products we fell in love with.

Thank you for your commitment and for reading our stories as we have all worked hard to get you the news you deserve. We appreciate your dedication over this school year and encourage you to stay tuned in August as we begin a new chapter. Have a good summer!

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Krissy Hetherington
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Krissy ('21) is a senior and this is her third year as Editor in Chief. She has been in Journalism since beginning of freshman year and has a strong passion for sports journalism. Outside of the Gigantea, Krissy is a part of the Cross Country, Basketball and Track teams. She is also in her third year as an intern writer for the Sun-Gazette. You can reach her by email at krist.he0076@vusd.us