The high school paper covers tough issues, which results in a top scholastic award.
By Sylvie Belmond/Special to The Malibu Times
For the second year in a row, the Malibu High School student newspaper, The Current, won first place at an American Scholastic Press Association (ASPA) competition.
In addition, journalism student Megan Willis won first place for outstanding editorial cartoon, also for the second time in a row.
David Warshawski, MHS journalism program advisor, credits this success to a balanced and informative school paper.
The Current’s staff, composed of 30 journalism students including nine editors, took part in the mail-in competition, which gauges the performance of high school publications throughout the country. MHS earned the most points collectively in the junior/senior high school overall category.
“We pride ourselves on not shying away from tough issues,” said Warshawski, who also teaches 12th grade English and coaches the MHS girls’ softball team.
Not only are the students not afraid to touch on challenging issues, the school’s paper is also attractively designed, and the cartoons and photographs are compelling.
“I teach these kids that we are not a public relations tool for the school,” Warshawski explained. “Rather, it is our job to report the tough stories as well as the school’s triumphs.”
Students cover everything from campus news to entertainment and sports.
“We are a complete school newspaper,” he said.
Warshawski also noted the program has grown from a 15-student endeavor to a program that is now so popular, students have to be selected in an interview process in order to keep the class numbers reasonable.
“The growth in enthusiasm, dedication and skill has been fantastic,” he said.
Perrie Briskin, a senior at Malibu High and the editor-in-chief (EIC) for The Current, concurred with her professor.
“Malibu High is really responsive to what we write and the award further shows that what we have is great,” she said. “We work hard and put out a quality product.”
Briskin also attributes the success of the paper to its newsworthy approach.
“We have quality content. It’s thorough and it’s more newsworthy rather than the usual school type newspaper,” she said.
Indeed, The Current covers tough topics. Recently, a story was published about a former Malibu High School staff member who is now homeless and panhandling on PCH.
“He was a [physical education] teacher at Malibu High,” Briskin said. “He is still homeless now.”
In the three issues it submitted for the ASPA competition, The Current also touched on problems with construction at MHS, school funding and security cameras being installed without student notification.
“The school security cameras were installed in the parking lot but the kids were not notified,” Briskin said, noting the journalism students try to write stories that are relevant for the students, the faculty and staff at MHS.
This is Briskin’s second year as EIC for the paper. The EIC oversees the work of all the journalism students. Unlike any other curricular activities, student newspaper staff and editors act independently. They produce the paper under the guidance of a journalism advisor, but the students have the final say on the content and design of the product they create.
This independence places more responsibility on the students, especially those who are in a leading role. Students also have to sell ad space in the paper.
“The tough part of the EIC’s job is that they have to be on top of everything,” said Briskin, whose also has to make sure writers make the deadline for publication.
Briskin juggles many jobs at once-setting the criteria for the paper’s layout design, writing and editing stories and assisting the other journalism students.
“Briskin is incredibly diligent, creative, enthusiastic and maybe most importantly, well-respected by her peers,” said Warshawski, who also remarked that the rest of the editors put in long hours to ensure the success of the paper and that the writers have been sharp and on top of their game.
In the coming month, The Current staff is working to improve the paper even more, redesigning the paper to make it even more visually attractive without losing the quality of content.