Please post your ideas for the second edition of the year. Be sure to read the other ideas BEFORE you post your own. You can elaborate on another person's post (with a citation, of course). Be specific and try to format each idea as such:
Article Idea:
Must interviews:
Why will people want to read this:
This edition will come out around October 22.
28 comments:
Sir Frog is Alec, just so you know
Is this first one? If it is, then yes!!
1. Are students environmentally friendly enough? Are students and faculty conscious of suistainability or do they not care much? People we could interview include Mark Stefanski or a student member of Eco Council. Other people we could interview should be one random person from each grade. Questions we should ask should be if helping the environment affects their decisions or not. People will want to read this because the environment and suistainability play a big role in the school. This article should go in Features.
2. Do students have enough time for homework?
MA has an active community in the Sports and the Arts. We could ask one student from each grade who participates either in a sport or an art if they are able to squeeze in homework easily. We could also ask about studying strategies and strategies to handle the time crunch. People will want to read this because they might pick up ideas about time management. The article should be in Features.
3. Are students politically conscious? Are they following politics, the war on health care and the Obama Administration? Should students even care?
People we could ask should be again one student from each grade. Maybe we could even ask politically active students and faculty about why students and people should care about politics. People will want to read this article because it will talk about how politically conscious their fellow students are. This article also belongs in Features.
4. Is it easy to direct a one act play? With the one act festival coming up, people may wonder how directing the play works. People we could interview include Annie Elias and any of the one act directors. I think they are mostly or all in the Theater III/IV class. Did the class help them prepare for directing? Is it hard to prepare a schedule for rehearsals? People should be interested in the one acts and will want to read this. This article belongs in A&E.
5. Op/Ed
Are students getting enough sleep? Should classes start an hour later at 9:00 and end at 3:20 or 3:45? We could have a debate about that during class. Arguments for this could be that some people live outside of Marin and have to drive forever through endless traffic jams to get here. Also, people like to sleep later so they now can sleep an hour later than usual. Arguments against could be that there is less time for homework in the evening. Also, people who practice sports will have less time to practice, especially in the winter when the sun sets at 5:00. People in the plays will also want school to end at 2:45 or 2:20. Would a compromise be opening the school half an hour later? People will want to read this because sleeping habits are important to the entire MA community.
1. John Hicks' Pumpkin Carving Outing-How did John come up with the idea, and how is really going to work.
INTERVIEWS: John Hicks, People signed up for outing.
WHY: It's a very different outing than the others and it seems to attract a lot of interest. Plus, Halloween will be coming up.
2. Halloween At MA-How much interest is there in dressing up, trick or treating, festivities etc.? You can find out if anyone is planning some really wacky costumes. It might be a little early though.
INTERVIEWS: any MA students or staff. maybe talk to Epicurean to see if they are planning to make any special food for Halloween.
3. IS the "mainstream media" really mainstream?-There is much debate over whether Newpapers such as the NY Times and news channels such as NBC are really unbiased or whether they only report on news that supports a liberal agenda. Channels such as Fox claim that liberals are hypocritical and think that democrats make unfair accusations of racism etc against conservatives.We could relate this to the Voice. The majority of us have been raised democratically in a very affluent part of the country...HOw does it affect our reporting and writing? This could possible be the staff editorial?
4. Which MA sports are the most popular, why, and do those sports create cliques that continue outside of the sporting world?
INTERVIEW: athletes across the board, tennis, water polo, soccer, b-ball, xcountry etc.
5. Cystic Fibrosis Benefit- Olivia Davis is organizing and running a concert at MA for Cystic Fibrosis. I don't think many people know what it is and we could do some education, and find out why she decided to do the event. We could do a debrief on the concert and where she donated the money. INTERVIEW: Olivia DAvis, Mira Garriga,ppl who go the the concert.
Feature:
Article Idea: living in the east bay
Must interviews: students from east bay, teachers from east bay
Why will people want to read this: this article will help inform students from marin about the difficulties of living across the bay. it could go into detail about the commute, maintaining friendships, etc.
Sports
Article Idea: being a bay area sports fan
Must interviews: student sport fans,
Why will people want to read this: this article will talk about the depressing reality of being a bay area sports fan, and how we always seem to lose. it can also talk about the fact that every year people are just as excited and convinced that we are gonna win this year
Profile
Article Idea: teachers that have been at ma forever
Must interviews: John Hicks, James shipman
Why will people want to read this: it will talk about teachers who have been at ma for more than ten years, and how they greatly impact and shape the schools image. it will give their inside perspective about how the school has changed over the years, and how they think it will continue to change.
feature:
Article Idea: MA performing arts
Must interviews: bob schleeter, annie elias, students in performing arts department
Why will people want to read this: what is involved in MA productions and the level of work and commitment. It could also list some upcoming plays/concerts. detailed interviews could help give an insiders persepective of what is involved in presenting the fantastic shows that we take for granted at MA.
Feature
Article Idea: homework load at MA
Must interviews: travis, students (from all levels)
Why will people want to read this: they can have someone help explain to them and empathize with them about why they have so much homework. perspectives from travis and teachers about why homework is so vital can be contrasted with students ideas about why it is overwhelming and excessive.
1. Newspaper Reading: A&E/Features?
The kids on the MA voice have to read the newspaper. How many people outside of Journalism class read the paper in the morning and are aware of the goings-on in our world. How do students consume the news? This would require interviews with different students about why or why they don't read the news.
2. Smartboards: Features?
At my old school we had smartboards in classrooms. Why doesn't MA have smartboards? Are they effective learning tools, and should we think about implementing them in the near future? Interviews include Brad Lakritz (technology head) and teachers asking if such a tool would help them to teach.
3. English III Class: News
I think this may have been done in the past, but now the juniors have actually had time to experience the new English III class, we could ask them what they think of the class so far, and if they recommend MA to do it again. Interviews include Juniors in the English III class, teachers teaching this class, and maybe to whoever thought of implementing if in the first place (Travis maybe?)
4. Planners: Op/Ed?
a. Everyone at MA seems to love our planners, laying out every day in advance, showing the weirdly scheduled days and helping us plan our lives. But every year, the planners fall apart because the spiral binding comes apart, and covers fall off, and students are left with tattered datebooks by the end of the year. Interviews could include the company that makes the planners and students who can comment on how effective planners are
4b. Another variation of a planner article would be what students decorate their planners. We could interview students and take pictures of their planners and put quotes from the students about why they decorate their planners next to the pictures of them.
5. Air Conditioning: News
Everyone who has an afternoon class in Foster or Founders knows what it's like to be sweltering during a History lecture or a hard Spanish Test. How hard would it be to put Air Conditioning into the two oldest buildings at MA? What would the cost be? We could explore this possibility. Interviews could include the MA treasurer (whoever keeps track of the money), teachers who teach in Foster and Founders, and students who have classes there.
--Jacob Salant wrote this--
1. Do we support our school enough? It seems to me like the only two sports which ever get any fans at games are volleyball and soccer. I think we should try and find a way to promote the other sports teams and find ways to get more people to other sports like water polo and lacrosse and basketball.
2. What's News? I think it would be a good idea to have a section with the major news of the month summed up into one article. For example in September; Celebrity deaths, Health Care Speech by Barack Obama, Dugard was found, South African runner may be a male. etc. It would be a good way to get more active into politics and it could show them the more interesting parts of the news in a concise manner.
3. How can students balance all their school work when dealing with extra curricular activities and after school sports? How do students manage 3-4 classes of homework and 1-2 sport practices everyday after school? what are strategies and advice for staying on top of school work and projects. What are keys aspects which have helped people keep grades up and still have the time to do sports and maintain an active social life. We should compare people who are currently doing a sport and those who aren't.
4. This is totally off the wall and probably not realistic in the slightest, but I'm going to add this idea anyway since I would like it to happen. If there were articles in other languages for kids who wanted to work on their reading and comprehension abilities in languages. Additionally if that is ridiculously stupid, we could talk about clubs and groups where kids can speak only in a foreign language to work on speaking and relations.
5. Foreign Relations? Are kids up to date with what is going on in other countries and what news is occurring not just nationally but world wide. It doesn't have to be just news but we could include details like good places to visit. Interesting details about countries or cities. Vacation spots, or where to avoid at the moment.
1. Feature
I know I already wrote this idea for last time, but I think it's still a really good idea and I would really like the chance to work on an article like this. Also, it is more timely because Issue 2 of The Voice is set to come out October 22, the day before the dance! We could interview students (sophomore, junior, senior) about what they think of the dances- I know a lot of people have expressed dissatisfaction with the dances in the past, what could be done to improve them? Why are there so many more freshmen/sophomores than upperclassmen? We could also interview freshmen about their hopes/expectations for their first high school dance, and teachers about what it's like to chaperone (and maybe what their dances were like when they were in high school?), as well as get Lynne/Travis' input about why there are those certain rules that make students dislike the dances.
2. Sports
Profile on Frolf club: for all those who don't know, what is frolf/ what does a typical frolf match entail? Interview with the team captains of the frolf team. Would probably a lighter/funnier piece
3. A&E
The one acts. Interviews with first time student directors about the process, how they chose their play, what casting was like, etc.
4. Op/Ed or Point/Counterpoint
Most juniors can't carpool to school because they don't have their year of driving yet. We could show the pros/cons of this law (pro: safer, con: can't carpool (bad for environment)). Do people actually obey this law? Should it be cut down to six months, instead of a year of having your license? Is it really expected that a whole group of people going somewhere are all going to take separate cars? What are some of the consequences for not following this law?
5. Op/Ed or Feature?
Hot drinks/coffee. Should the cafeteria provide hot drinks (besides tea)/coffee in the mornings? This might be helpful for tired students who need a pick-me-up in the morning, and would probably be lucrative for the cafeteria. Interview students-would they drink coffee if it were provided? Cafeteria- how easy would it be to provide coffee for our school? Lynne/Travis- why isnt coffee served at school? Are there any negative effects (such as messes) that they are trying to avoid by not having it?
Claire Fox:
1. Features: The Outings Catalogue
We could write about what new and exciting outings were in the catalogue and what we predict the most interest will be in. We could also talk about the new Pumpkin Carving scuba outing like Olivia said. We could interview teachers who have lead many outings and students who have participated in many.
2. Features: Jobs
We could write about the jobs that students at MA have. Are there more volunteers at MA or people who work. What sort of jobs do people have? We could interview people from a few grades to see where people work or if they do.
3. Features: Activities Fair
The activities fair is coming up in a few weeks and we could interview club leaders and find out if there are any new clubs. We could take surveys to see how many students are involved in clubs like eco-council, as well as other smaller clubs.
4. Sports
We could write about what sports are doing well so far. How many games has the soccer team won and lost? We could interview people from waterpolo, cross country, soccer, volleyball, and tennis to see how each sport is doing.
5. A &E
We could write about how art in the MA community can make a statement. What projects are the visual arts classes doing that are creating statements that can apply to current events today. We could interview students involved in higher level art classes as well as the teachers of photo and draw/paint.
Sports: Ultimate Frisbee on the field and what kind of interest it gets- The tradition involved (How/when did it start) and the ultimate frisbee players' community at MA, Why there are no seniors but a large contingency of sophomores. Interviews with Bob Schleeter, Dave Marshall, Glen Stanfield, and frisbee players. Interest for people who don't know of this MA tradition
Feature: Similar to the Manhattan Smell map, a map of MA indicating who spends time where (on a general level- eg. freshmen in the hallway, seniors in the circle etc.) Interviews with students, interest especially to the new freshmen and general MA student community
Sports: Like Isaac's idea about being a bay area sports fan, doing some sort of point/counterpoint between raiders and 49ers fans (since football season has started) about which team will be the first to escape the NFL cellar. Interviews with fans of each team (students and teachers)- Of interest to all local sports fans
Feature: I feel like many people believe there is nothing to do in marin anymore, so we could feature a discussion on things for high school students to do around marin (although I'm having trouble thinking up ideas)- Interview marin and non-marin residents on the perception of how much there is to do, with people who have some connection to activities mentioned in the article- interest to marin residents in the MA community
Feature: I'm not sure if something similar has been done before, but it might be interesting to do a lighthearted piece on what goes on in the teacher's lounge, chambers, when teachers are around before and after school, interview some teachers willing to share what goes on, general interest
1. FEATURE: Parent involvement at Marin Academy. What do our parents do for our school? What sort of opportunities are there? What is it like for our parents to get involved in their child's high school, is it awkward for the child?
2. FUN ARTICLE: Teachers and there pets. What kinds of pets do given teachers have. Short bio's on teachers and their pet history. (Maybe a photo feature?) Bring your pet to school day! (Fun idea for the future) Or students who look like there pets.
3. FEATURE: What is up with the new circle party trend? Where did the idea come from? Is it bonding our school? Who is in charge, what can you expect if you come to a circle party? We can go with the angle to circle parties are more fun than school dances.
4. Op/Ed. Is it about learning, or is it about the grade? Often times, students are told that it is about the learning experience, and not the grade that you get, but when it comes down to applying to colleges senior year, that is not at all the case. Why have grades become so important, (not just at MA) but everywhere. What does a grade really mean?
5. Feature: Interview with John, Glen, or James about the old MA. Ask interesting and funny question about what it used to be like.
1. It seemed like people were pretty into the founder's day assembly today and Derek's presentation. This article could include a more detailed history of the school with some more of those fun pictures! If this were a centerspread then we could talk about everyone's favorite subject "MA is changing!" In fact it has, we could start hear then interview teachers who have been here for a long time, then some upperclassmen, and also get some freshmen's opinion of MA's community.
2. Halloween Costumes! Fun and creative ideas. Also include a bit about what Halloween means for highschoolers. Are we too old to trick or treat? It will get everyone excited for the holidays!
3. Boys soccer. Although they do get a lot of spotlight at our school they aren't doing as well as they have in the past. Interviews: Josh Kalkstein, captains Eric Johanson and Marc Saake. People will be interested in seeing a different side of the boys soccer program.
4. Profile on the clubs at MA. The activities fair is coming up and although a lot of people know the names of the clubs people don't really know what happens in them and often when announcements are made, people don't even listen. Interviews: Sanjai, club leaders and participants, and faculty advisor.
5. Spirit! I think the spirit captains are really raising the bar so far this year with the assembly stint, circle days, etc. Interview Frank and Joey (spirit captains) and people from all grades about their opinions. A little positive publicity might keep the energy up!
1. News/Feature
No 9/11 recogniztion. Why did the MA community fail to recognize this piece of history this year, especially since we had an assembly that day. Desiree overheard us brainstorming for article ideas in the library and said she would like to read something about this, and that she was offended by the school's lack of any mention of 9/11. She also said she talked to Travis about it and she claimed that the school wanted to "move forward." But is the easiest way to move forward simply to forget about it compleatley? This could evolve into a very interesting and controversial topic.
2. Sports
The faculty's athletic history. What sports did members of MA faculty play in highschool and which of them still play sports today? We could interview basically any faculty member and get all of the details on highschool sports of their time. Which sports were the most popular? How do they compare to MA sports? Etc.
3. Feature:
Going along with Olivia's idea, does Halloween take on a new meaning in highschool? How do MA students "celebrate" Halloween?, if they do that all. We could interview students and ask them what their plans are/what they plan on being for Halloween?
4. Feature/OpEd
Number of school days. Why is it that we have so many random days off in the first 2 months or so of school? Granted that there are some holidays involved, there are also some breaks that are justified by random reasons. Not that I'm complaining, but I heard a rumor that MA has the lowest number of required school days by the state of California. Why is that?/Is that necessarily a good thing?
5. A&E
Calender of events. It would be nice to have a simple line-up of all the upcoming music and dance concerts, and theatre productions of the semester. Events often don't get promoted/advertised for that much, I for one missed all of the music concerts last year. It could be really small, but it would be informative.
1. Feature: In honor of MA's 38th anniversary I think it would be interesting get a feel for how the school was back then and then throughout each year leading up to now we could talk about a major changed that occurred that year. Or just highlight the major changes that MA has experienced throughout its 38 years. This does not mean interviewing teachers who have been here for a long time, it would be more of giving MA's timeline of change.
2. Op/Ed: MA should shorten its Spring Break in order to allow for more religious and cultural holidays. MA's spring break is 2 weeks long, which is much longer than the majority of the school's in Marin that only get a week off. By shortening our spring to the common time of 1 week, we could allow more days off for religious and cultural holidays, which would help make our community more culturally rich. It would be interesting to either interview a faculty member who could shed some light on why we have a 2 week long spring break in the first place.
3. Feature: MA Clubs: How well are MA clubs advertised/participated in. MA has a wide variety of a clubs such as Mock Trial, Model U.N., Peace and Justice Coalition, etc. All of these are great opportunities for students however most of these clubs have a very small percent of the MA community participating in them. It would be interesting to interview some some students to see if a. students knew of all the clubs and b. if so why or why not they would be interested in joining them. We could also interview some of the captains about how successful they think their club is and how successful they want it to become. This article might also bring some publicity to the clubs, increasing their popularity.
4. Feature: How are the graduates from the class of 2009 doing in college? It would be interesting if we could get in touch with some of the graduates from last year to see if how their doing in college and how (or if) MA has prepared them for it. This would also provide insight to juniors and seniors this year as to which colleges might suite them best based on the responses from the class of 2009.
5. Feature: Bus vs. Carpool: The majority of the people who take the bus either live far away or have parents who failed to establish a carpool. When you take the bus as a freshmen you usually don't know most the people who are on it, as apposed to a carpool where you usually carpool with people you know since the live in your area. So in a way the bus provides social integration. We could interview people who haven taken the bus and see if they've made new friends from it. We could also interview people who have taken both the bus and the carpool to see which they like better.
6. Feature: I know last time there were some post about the new cafeteria service, but know that some time has passed and everybody has experienced the cafeteria at least a few times it would be interesting to see their feedback. We could interview both teachers and students about things such as: Is the wait worth the food? Is it to expensive? Did you like the self serving system from the old cafeteria better? Etc.
1. The new swine flu vaccine––general information, side effects, school precautions, etc. Interview with school administrators and/or Marin General Hospital personnel.
2. Profile of the fencing club––bring attention to a relatively obscure club, clear up misconceptions about fencing, interview coach and members.
3. Survey of favorite student lunch places––interview students where they like to eat and why.
4. Profile of the Buck Institute (research center on aging)––interview researchers, discuss internship opportunities and/or any recent discoveries.
5. Feature on skin cancer and risk of teens/young adults––causes (ex: tanning booths), prevention, awareness survey.
1. New MA Bands. Who is in what band this year? What are they called? What songs are they planning on playing at the next concert?
2. TV: Are kids still watching it? What shows do they watch? What percent of kids at MA watch TV during the week? Interview students from all grades, find the most watched TV shows.
3. The new lunch program: Have they worked out the kinks? What do kids think of the new food program? Interview the head chef, freshmen who weren't here for the food last year, and sophomores, juniors, and seniors for their personal opinions.
4. City-term: Interview students who participated last year, and give an overview of what it is and what it involves. What school did they go to? What was different or the same from MA?
5. Student/ Teacher response to Obama's Health Care Plan. What do students and teacher think of what was said? Does the MA community think that it will help to better the health care issue?
1. I think it would be visually interesting to have a boy and girl of their selective sport to wear his/her sports jersey. By doing this we could create a collage of Marin Academy athletic uniforms and increase the spirit at our school, and the attendance of not as popular sports (such as any other sport besides soccer and basketball)!
2. After attending today's assembly about the history of Marin Academy, I found it apparent that much of the same characteristics it had back then are found as well in our present school. When I saw the picture of the guy hanging off the cliff in the outings photo, I thought it would be cool to talk about the same outings back then that are still present in our outings catolog. An interview of the teachers that have worked at MA for years would be necessary, and an interview of the MA students that went on the outings would make a great article of how the outings are the same and how they have changed over the years.
3. How many teachers are environmentally friendly and use those expensive pens that you have to put in a couple drops every few months and they last forever. I know that Jen Coté and Anayansi use the pens, so we could interview them. Also a poll of who uses the toxic smelly expo markers as opposed to the environmentally friendly markers would be necessary.
4. Semi-going off of what Isaac said, I think it would be interesting to take a pole of the average hours that an MA student sleeps during the school week. This can show how much school work they have, leading to an inefficient amount of sleep. Also interviewing someone who gets an average of little sleep, will be important to uncovering what takes away from their sleep each day.
5. What is it like to be a transfer student? Interviewing this years transfer students would give light to the rest of the MA students of how easy or difficult it is to come into a new high school a year or two later than all of the rest of the kids in the grades. Must interviews: all of the transfer students from each grade. Also asking them to compare and contrast their previous school to Marin Academy.
Marshall Levensohn
1) As Katie said, the spirit captains have gone all out with so many different events happening at school. Although they have gotten a very large turnout at almost all of the events, there is definitely a large portion of students who are unaware of these parties. We should interview Joey and Frank and create a Spirit Calendar in the paper to fill in the student body about all of the upcoming events.
2) MA's Sequoia tree in the circle has been there for so long and represents a part of history in our school. What is its significance to our school and why has it taken the role of one of our school symbols. Also, how is its health and for people who forget like me, what is the importance of all of the wood-chips to the tree?
3) The new seating in the plaza between the BLC and Library has seemed to be a huge hit. It would be interesting to see the other students review of the new addition and find out what can be done to make it even better. Should there be more tables and chairs? Less? Should there be more tables in other parts of the plaza like along the side of the café?
4) What are the new banners in the gym from last year? We can look at how many there are, which teams, and give a preview to the entire year of sports and their hopes for bringing another banner home in our gym.
5) Along with the theme of MA's History, it would be really interesting to talk to some of the oldest teachers here about the most exciting student created events that have occurred at MA. This could help boost school spirit and maybe some of these events will happen again years later.
1. Feature: With everyone obviously so invested in the concept of old MA vs. the new MA, so we could search the archives for similiar setting pictures, like the sport ones that Derrick showed. Kinda of like Katie's idea, but the presentation would be all pictures and brief captions. Interviews: Derek. Appeal: Everybody
2. Sports: We could talk about the influence Coach Michael Coffino has had on the basketball team. We could throw some numbers out there that compared old MA basketball to current. Interview would include Josh Ferchette, Joe Harvey, Coach Coffino, and some players on the team.
3. Op-Ed - I know that we did this four years ago, but I think that it could be relly intersting if we gave it another shot: Religion at MA. Speak to those who are religious and talk about their experiences at a school like MA. Interviews: Anyone who is religious, Sanjai. Interest: Probably everybody at MA.
4. This is a bit odd, and I dont know where this would go, but I think that we should have the next month's senior speech dates. It would be really useful, and it would force the people to pick up the paper a bit more. No interviews just the facts ma'am. The list is easily accessible. All it takes is a request to the of the senior dean, Bill Meyer.
5. Op/Ed: Is this spirit or just a front? Although the "dance parties" in the circle seem much spirited, sports game are dry and bland. The seats are often empty, and anyone who doesn't have a son/daughter on the team is nowhere to be found. This would interest everyone who boasts about the schools sudden spirit, and most importantly get some support for our Wildcats.
Sorry one more that I would really be interested in doing... Football. MA's lack of a football team has caused people to question our validity as aschool. We can explore the supporters/opposition to our lack of football team. Interviews: Derek, Josh Ferchette, students who play/ like football.
Jackson Wolf
1. NEWS: Circle parties! There probably are people wondering: what on Earth is happening in the circle? Who are all those crazy people dancing like they're possessed and playing that loud, irritating electronic music? This article would answer such questions. Also, this would be a good opportunity for a little history lesson about the circle pre-BBLC era (something that underclassmen never really got to experience). People to interview include Tennessee, Joey, Frank, and whoever may be rockin'/hangin' out in the circle.
2. FEATURE: Spirit Captains. The spirit captains have been particularly active this year. What is being planned for spirit week? How are the spirit captains appealing to different groups of students? Faculty opinion on the recent surge in spirit may be included. Interviews again include Frank and Joey. This could particularly appeal to freshmen or those that aren't very involved in spirit related activities or days.
3. OP/ED: New age of communication. Address how new/modern technology literally shapes communication in terms of social skills that are developed, the personal nature of conversation, the decline of face-to-face conversation of a regular basis, and what this is causing people to miss out on. The article would be intended to illuminate how our relationships with others as well as how we as people and a community are rapidly changing in time with technology. Interviews would be from students that are either heavily reliant on technology or feel particularly strongly about how technology has impacted their communication and subsequently their lives.
3B: OP/ED: The same exact sort of article as proposed above could be written about the media and the state of journalism. Advances in technology accelerate globalization, and on a smaller scale, influence the quality and volume of news and viewpoints that we are exposed to.
4. NEWS/SPORTS: The SF Giants. The regular season will be wrapping up as we begin writing this article. The Giants will either be beginning the playoffs, in which case this article could talk about the hype around the team (the bandwagon/amount of people paying attention to the Giants will grow exponentially if the Giants overtake the Rockies in the division and win the wild-card). If this was the case, the article could talk about key components of the team including their young, talented lineup and superb pitching. If this is not the case and the Giants didn't make the playoffs, then this article would show how dramatically the Giants' season has changed compared to last year and sort of evaluate the progress of the team. This article would not solely be about the team, a high proportion of the article would be allocated to interviews and bits about interest in the Giants within the MA community, possibly profiling some fans, and student opinions on the team.
5. FEATURE: The college process. How are those seniors holding up? As deadlines start looming, what are some things that seniors are dealing with? How swamped are they? How can all this work be managed in addition to heavy work-loads, extracurriculars, and maybe a little time spent with friends. Interviews would include seniors with varying levels of anxiety or stress on the issue.
1. A&E:
An overall view at Marin Academy's art program. We could showcase some of the art pieces made by students thus far, previews of pieces/plays to come, and an interview from a student in each art. This would include (but would not be limited to): draw/paint, photography, ceramics, theater, dance
2. Feature:
This is similar to Claire's and Eric's, but I thought I would put it out there anyways, as I wrote this yesterday and forgot to post!
Marin Academy presents us with amazing opportunities, one of them being
the Outings Program. There are a plethora of students (including myself)
who have yet to participate in an outing. It would be interesting to do a
story on why students who have yet to participate are hesitant to do so,
and what the students who have done an outing have gotten out of it. The
course catalogue for the outings program has just been released, so we
could do a general summary of each and what to expect for those who have
yet to pick one up.
3. Feature:
I previously suggested something similar to this, but I thought I would give it another shot!
How does the geographic breakdown of MA effect its students? Similarly to what Isaac said, we could do a profile of one student from San Francisco, the East Bay, and Sonoma/Vallejo/North Bay and discuss how they deal with the commute/maintain friendships/how it impacts them as a whole. We could also branch-off into what each student typically does in each place on weekend.
4. Feature:
Exercise is a crucial part of every teenager's life. Yet, as time passes on, less and less students exercise and more fall prey to obesity. Some students at Marin Academy simply aren't athletic, but it would be interesting to profile a few students that don't do "team" sports for exercise, but find other ways to be active (yoga and rock climbing are the first to come to mind.) We could do a graph with the number of students who play sport teams/do personal exercises/don't play sports and the benefits of exercise.
5. Feature:
Now that it's been a few weeks, many people have eaten at the new MA Café. We could profile a few students on what they think of it thus far/what could be improved about it/what the café offers daily.
1.) Feature:
I agree with Olivia that we definitely need some sort of feature article on Halloween. This could involve polling a certain amount of the student body (maybe through surveymonkey.com) on what their plans are for Halloween and making a cool graphic out of it to supplement the feature. I think that this idea wouldn't need that much in-depth reporting, but at the same time would garner a lot of attention.
2.) Feature:
We could do a really cool map of downtown San Rafael that shows where MA students spend their lunches when they are not eating on campus. This is kind of a combination plus an addition to Andrew's 2nd and 4th ideas. We could show not only the popular places that people eat at, but some of the more out of the way restaurants that are just as good. This could include interviews from restaurant owners and students.
3.) Sports:
How well does the MA community know their coaches? The Voice could do a piece profiling some of the coaches of the fall sports, such as Josh, the volleyball coach, Ken and Liz (X Country), etc. The profile could include an insight on the current season as well as their past and future at MA.
4.) The new paper-less movement going on among teachers. I think that there are several teachers who prefer not to print anything out if they can help it, and I think it would be interesting to interview these teachers and see what inspired them and how it is working out for them. We should search out these green teachers and question them.
5.) Op/Ed
How do we feel about being "randomly" breathalyzed and searched before school dances? Does this in anyway weaken the community's bond of trust with the faculty or the establishment itself? With this issue coming out right before the dance, this piece would be extremely relevant. It also has been a popular complaint about the dances that have occurred in the past couple of years.
Opinion, "Weapons of Mass Distraction". With homework increasingly relying on the use of a computer and more importantly the internet, are students more distracted? I know I can't open firefox without watching a new episode of colbert... but what are other people distracted by? and how do they combat the distraction?
Bizarre, "Mysterious Academy". MA has a big campus and it is filled with strange little things that I still find things that I have never seen before, even as a Junior. I think people (especially) freshman would be interested in seeing parts of the school that they didn't know existed and then having to try to find them if they want.
Feature, On the History of MA theme, we should find an alumni of SRMA get their thoughts on going to the school, and the campus, etc. We could also ask about their favorite parts of the school and see if they have been removed or are still there.
Arts and Entertainment, Poetry Slams have been part of MA for a long time. I think this addition of the Voice will come out pretty close to after the slam finals so the news would be rather current. We could do a spotlight on the winners and interview Tennessee Melanie and Jim Baldwin.
News. "The Death of a Bagel Shop? - The Whole Story" "Bagel Shop Runs Short on Dough" . What is the deal with the bagel shop? Is it closed forever?! Seriously, almost every MA student has procured bagels from this shop and its time to get the details on what the status is. Interviews: someone from city of San Rafael, or get a hold of one of the owners with a letter or phone call.
1. I think it would be really cool if in the next edition of the voice we had a piece that consisted only of quotes from the MA seniors about what they hope to get out of their last year at MA. Maybe we could also get quotes about how they feel MA has prepared them for the future- not just in college but after that as well. Possible interviews could include president, vice president, spirit captains, and other seniors who are wiling to share how they feel about going into their last year of high school.
2. This would be a light hearted piece, but think it might be fun for students to read about all the "strange" clubs and activities that MA has to offer and how they came about; meat club, frolf, and fencing to name a few. Possible interviews: club leaders, and a few students who participate in the actual activities themselves.
3. Facebook at MA: I know that for me and a lot of other students as well, facebook plays a BIG part of our lives. Most of the MA events such as sports games and parties in the circle- i hear about through facebook. I think students would be really interested in reading a piece about how facebook keeps MA students up to date and what different students use it for (ex. to share pictures, stay in touch with old friends, be notified about upcoming events...). We could interview virtually any student with a facebook account, and make sure to include students from every grade.
4. Many people had the idea of doing a piece on old MA vs. new MA with the teachers input, and i think to make it even more interesting we could have each teacher that has taught here for a while share one of their favorite memories they have had while working here at MA. possible interviews: Mark Stefanski, James Shipman
5. MA apparel: last year we had "i ♥ MA turkey" shirts and one other which i forget at the moment- but we could do a piece on any fun ideas that people have for shirts this year. Or maybe not only shirts, but hats or socks or anything that the MA community would be interested in buying to promote school spirit.
A&E:
What's the auditioning process like for a school play? How friendly is the system to non theatre students who wish to get involved? Must interviews would be David Sinaiko, Annie Elias, students familiar with the process, and students who wish to get involved.
Sports:
MA offers a wide variety of sports, and many students are satisfied with the current selection. Yet some students true athletic passions may be getting neglected. This article would take a poll of students' reasonable requests to add a new sport, documenting the most popular ideas; and would see if adding to the current sport selection is feasible.
News:
Obama recently gave a speech on education, with students like us as the intended audience. So much fuss was made about Obama "indoctrinating" America's youth, that the true messages of his speech fell by the wayside. Many public schools showed Obama's speech yet MA did not. Why was this? If any students did hear Obama address the nation what were their reactions?
Feature:
This is similar to Avery's idea. The article would list all the different clubs at MA, give a short description of them, when they meet, and who to talk to if you want to join them. This would help to inform the many people who aren't familiar with more than a few of the many MA clubs.
Feature:
After the recent founder's day assembly, I started to think about where the bell given to whoever won the football "grudge match" between SRMA and their rival (I'm forgetting the name of the school) went. This might be a hard article to pursue that would require some sleuthing, but it could prove to be cool if we found the bell.
1. Profile
New Spirit Captains (similar to katie/marshall's ideas)
Interviews- Joey Upjohn and Frank Gibbs
We could do a profile on our new spirit captains. They have been successful thus far in conducting spirit but we can ask them about their plans for the rest of the year. Do they think our school has enough spirit? Both of the spirit captains are always fun to have a conversation with so many people will be interested in reading about what they have to say.
2. Sports
Interviews: captains of certain teams and freshman that are part of the teams
This article can cover how the freshman have helped the specific team. We could do a mini profile on all the freshman that have helped bring teams to victory. I know specifically that the MA soccer team lost a lot of seniors and now have a lot of freshman on the team, it would be interesting to ask the players how this is working out.
3. Feature:
Best carpool on campus! I have seen this in the past and it would be interesting to do something similar. We could interview the carpools on campus about their own unusual ways/traditions, who is late, the music choice, ect. We can have fun pictures next to each carpool.
4. Profile
New equity club on campus: G.R.O.W (Global Role of Women). Olivia Howard and I are the leaders of a new club on campus that explores gender roles in our MA community and globally. We specifically focus on the role of women and will have many outreach projects to help women in our local community and outside of it. Celeste and Charis are our faculty advisors. Our first meeting is Oct. 27 so the paper would be a great introduction and helpful to spread the word. This could be a very small/short piece in the newspaper.
5. MA student government.
Interview: Zia (junior rep), Nish, Walker, (the teacher who oversees the meetings)
I know we elect our president, reps, and other positions in our government but do we know what an actual meeting is like? It would be cool to do a profile on those involved in our government and maybe sit in on a meeting and report to the school goes on, many people are curious!
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