BY JULIA ONKEN
Sequoia High School in Redwood City published its first student newspaper Sept. 30, the Raven Report.

This is the first year that the school has granted permission for the newspaper staff to have their own journalism class as opposed to an after-school club. In previous years SHS’s leadership club has sporadically released a newsletter-style publication, but plans this year are to carry forward a monthly 8-page newspaper, under the supervision of English teacher Ms. Kim Vinh.

“I think that journalism is the best real life writing opportunity you can have in school because you have an audience”, says Vinh. “Students become better writers because it’s so high stakes.”

Currently the Raven Report staff consists of just 12 students, ranging from sophomores to seniors and led by the new editor-in-chief, senior Arielle Jones. None of the staff have any previous journalism experience. Despite this, the first publication was received well.

“Within 10 minutes of the paper being delivered, I received about 10 emails from people. They are all so excited about our school newspaper”, says Vinh, the Raven Report’s staff advisor.

Julia Onken is on the staff of the Raven Report and wrote this item for the Press Club’s blog.