Wow– the semester is just flying by! For the Spyglass team, the highlight of the month was February 24, National Student Press Freedom Day. Spyglass celebrated for the first time with an outstandingly successful sweatshirt, sticker, and tote bag sale! Thank you to everyone who showed up to support student journalism–financially, and especially by listening to our stories– we love seeing you tote your Spyglass spirit around campus. You can learn more about our passion for free expression– and tote bag decorating struggles– in this month’s Spyglass Live! 

In the newsroom, Spyglass staffers were joined by Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Mark Schoofs. Mr. Schoofs, the former Editor-in-Chief of Buzzfeed News, a visiting professor at the USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism, and a Student Press Freedom Day fanatic, taught the staff about solutions-based journalism, focusing stories, and his path to journalism, and helped us workshop some of our own investigative features. 

Student Press Freedom Day is a great reminder of why we do what we do here at Spyglass: celebrate free expression and highlight the issues that matter most to our school and staff. This month, our journalists considered tutoring culture and artificial intelligence. We puzzled over all the water damage on campus and the smell that’s ousted the English department. We celebrated another outstanding Westridge Theatre production and a successful All School Day. We solved friendship and burrito problems, made Australian snacks, and tried to figure out what the heck is in or out of uniform. Now, we’re exhausted and ready for Discovery Week and Spring Break. 

As always, we encourage our readers to support student journalism by engaging with the paper themselves. Nothing gives us the warm and fuzzies like letters to the editor and website comments!