Website.
March 10 - Our adviser tells me I’ve been named digital editor. September 22 - The ReMarker Online launches. In the 196 days between those dates, a website was created. I researched and found that SNOSites was the best option to host our site; I planned out a production cycle for a platform we never had, keeping stories consistent and informative; I convinced a staff that never had a website that it was our future. I designed a site that highlighted our staff’s great reporting. Finally, the website launched.
But that wasn’t the end of my job - not by a long shot. Since September 22, I have managed the update of smremarker.com mutliple times a week with a fresh batch of web-exclusive stories, as well as print stories, videos, podcasts, and much more.
On smremarker.com you can find the fruition of all my work in this past year bringing our program a website. Below is a column I wrote for page 2 of The Remarker, laying out the future of the website and our program:
Upon stepping into the journalism suite, it is evident that each person on the ReMarker newspaper staff truly cares. This isn’t a class they took just to fill a credit. This isn’t an activity they joined just to look good for college applications. They are a part of this publication because they have assumed the responsibility of spreading news to our community.
While the ReMarker staff certainly has fun, when it’s time to work, there is a unique professionalism that emerges from a group of teenage boys. From its pitch days to interviews to submitting the final product, the team goes the extra mile to ensure a quality publication every time.
The staff would be unable to keep this up without its community. There aren’t many schools where the administration trusts teenagers to cover controversial topics with little oversight. That’s why students rush to open the newspaper on seven Fridays throughout the school year and truly appreciate the work their peers have done.
Thanks to this community, the ReMarker has covered topics ranging from consent to LGBTQ+ rights to abortion. The publication has won countless national awards, including a record 20 consecutive CSPA Gold Crowns and 14 NSPA Pacemakers.
As impressive as this publication is and has been, it’s time to look ahead to the future.
As the world changes, we must change with it. While there is nothing like flipping through the pages of a print newspaper, and there is always a place for it, we are bringing a new dimension to the school’s journalism program: a website. Our mission is to allow our audience — those here on campus and those across the globe — to consume information in real time.
On the website, we will provide more insight into student life through podcasts featuring important figures and debates between students, video content from documentaries covering historic school moments to sideline interviews and further insight from guest speakers just hours after one visits our campus.
We can make a Winter 2020 SPC documentary better than any 30 for 30. We can interview Lucas Blumenthal from the sideline right after he catches a game-winning touchdown. We can stream videos of legendary Upper School assembly rap battles.
With our current print newspaper, we can only release stories once a month. Often, this results in late coverage of events around campus – or no coverage at all. Now, we will update the website multiple times a week with up-to-date coverage of everything on campus.
In addition to these weekly web-exclusive stories, every story featured in the ReMarker print newspaper will also be accessible on the website. The website will also present scores, schedules and highlights from every varsity sports team on campus as well as direct access to the Focal Point podcast.
With the website, our community is able to access information about campus life more easily than ever. Parents, you no longer need to wait until your son brings the ReMarker home. Just visit smremarker.com. Alumni, wondering how things are going at 10600 Preston Road? Add smremarker.com to your bookmarks.
After planning and designing this website since I was appointed the founding digital editor in March, I am incredibly eager to finally click “publish” and launch this incredible platform to further connect this community.
Welcome to a new era of the ReMarker.
While the unveiling of our website was certainly a cause for celebration, I made it clear to the staff that our job was only starting. In the first year of having a website, there were ups and downs — but I have made sure our team’s mentality never wavered. The additional stories allow rookies to have more opportunities to write, which is crucial for their development. Our staff’s least favorite part of every cycle is the “upload print stories to website” day, but I keep them motivated with late starts and snacks. On the right is my assignment for each classmate to upload stories, with their work due at the end of the period.
