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:
Article will come out November 19.
22 comments:
1. Sports: The new girls varsity basketball coach. Who is he? What are his visions for the upcoming season?
Interviews: Coach, Josh F., returning varsity players
2. A&E: Preview for the Winter Concerts. Who is in what band and what is each band playing?
Interviews: Bands, Bob, Dart
3. Features: Twins! Travis is soon to be a mom to twins and that piece of news could be in an article all about twins at MA.
Interviews: Travis, Titus boys, Stein boys, Swanson girls, any teacher who is a twin
4. Holiday Traditions of Teachers. We have been including different articles about teachers and their lives outside of the classroom (TV show, kids etc.) and this could be the next part.
Interviews: Any teachers
5. Thanksgiving Gratitude. It could just be a bunch of 1 or 2 sentence quotes from anyone in the MA community about what they are thankful for.
CLAIRE FOX:
1. This is kind of similar to Katie's idea about continuing on with articles about teachers, but we could include pictures of teachers when they were in high school and compare them to pictures of them now. It would be a fun article to read.
2. Features: We could discuss the conference on Democracy, what are the different lectures and how do they relate to M.A. and the greater world.
3. A&E: We could discuss the senior arts assemblies and take a pole of what percent of the senior class in planning on doing a senior art, rather than speech.
4. Sports: Fall sports profiles, how each sport is doing in terms of wins and losses. What sports are the most successful and will make it to BCL and NCS.
5. Features: Communications Evening is on november 17th and we could do a profile on the topics discussed and general reactions to it. What do people think about it and does it help them communicate with their parents better?
1. Feature: There was a really interesting NYT article recently on study habits and whether listening to music or multitasking helps or hurts when studying (http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/13/health/13klas.html?_r=1&ref=science). We could interview some students about their study habits and even talk to some teachers about how they studied as students versus how they see studying (students or their own kids) now.
2. Feature: It seems like something that might have been done before but it might be interesting to interview some students about whether they do their homework the night it is assigned or the night before it is due- I would be curious to see how many actually do it when it is assigned. interview w/students
3. Feature: With record albums becoming popular again, we could have a piece about whether or not the trend has caught on with students and about what teachers (used to) listen to. Must interview- Tom Wilson, other students and some teachers
4. Sports: I'm not sure when the Winter sports season starts but it might be time for the winter season preview- Interview athletes and coaches
5. Feature: There is another senior arts assembly a few days before this edition comes out and it might be interesting to talk to some seniors about the choice to do a senior arts piece instead of a speech and have them talk about their favorite senior arts performances they saw during their time at MA. interview- seniors who did senior arts
1. I’d like to resubmit my idea of a profile of the fencing club. In my opinion, fencing is a really cool sport, and I think that people would be interested in knowing more about the club and other fencing opportunities in Marin. We could interview the coach, Stuart Kaufman, and some of the club members about their favorite aspects of fencing. In addition, we could clear up some of the myths about fencing.
2. I don’t know if an article about standardized tests has already been written, but it would be interesting to explore the thoughts surrounding the SAT and ACT at MA. We could do a student poll: do students stress out about the tests, how much do they perceive the tests to be part of college applications, are they going to take both the SAT and ACT, etc. We could get interviews with Joe Harvey and possibly Lynne Hansen.
3. We could do an article on internship opportunities in Marin County. I would bet that many students are interested in doing internships, but they don’t know where to look. Some possible areas of exploration include the Buck Institute and Marin General Hospital. Or, we could focus on just one institution.
4. We could do an article on Grandparent’s Day (November 22). What is its purpose, what is special about it, how far back does the tradition go? We could interview people involved in organizing the day and possibly some of the students and grandparents about their experiences.
5. Again, I don’t know if this has already been done, but we could do a profile of the MA Mock Trial Team. We could interview coaches and members, including faculty advisor Travis Brownley, and note any upcoming competitions with other high schools.
1. Features/News: Peer Resources
What does peer resources do? They seem to be secretive within the MA community. Do they really just plan events? What goes on at a peer resources meeting? We could do a profile on peer resources.
Interviews: Sanjai, members of peer resources
2. Features: Skiing vs. Snowboarding
We could take a poll about if people do skiing, snowboarding, both or none, and see what the results are. We could also do a comparative side by side of skiing vs. snowboarding, showing pros and cons.
Interviews: poll of students/teachers/faculty members that ski and snowboard.
3. Sports: Winter sports
Why is the only winter sport at MA basketball? There are plenty of other sports, wrestling, ice hockey, indoor soccer, etc. Why does MA only have basketball? Would kids want another sport in the winter?
Interviews: Josh F., Athletic departments, students who would like to play a sport in the winter.
4. News: The Bagel Shop
The Bagel Shop was a central part of MA last year, and now that it's gone, what do kids do for lunch? Why did the bagel shop close? We could also address why it was so tightly bound in the MA community. Also, will it live again?
Interviews: Students who went to the bagel shop, maybe possibly getting one of the people who used to work there to inform us what's going on.
5. Features: Laptops
Do the majority of students at MA have laptops? Would it be good to give students laptops for the year so that they could take electronic notes, and go ahead with MA's electronicifying everything? What would be the costs associated with giving every student a laptop for the year?
Interviews: Travis, Admin. (treasurer), students.
1.Profile –MA Ping Pong Club
Interviews- Teo and Conner (leaders/founders), other members
We could do a small blurb on the new club on campus which could debatably could be considered a sport. I think it’s interesting how they have aquired enough money to purchase a ping pong table. I wonder what idea/inspiration they had to start this club.
2.Features: Photo kids
Interviews: Students that take photo, Jenny Rosenberg,
Chart- photo kids opinions about vs. non-photo kid opinions about photo (they will probably be very different)
Do we really know what happens in photo? A lot of students don’t really understand the work that photo kids put into photo class. Is it a cult or a class? People in photo always seem to be hanging out in the photo lab or with each other discussing their photos. I think we should try to crack the mystery, for non-photo kids, that is looming in the VAC building.
3. News:Conference of Democracy
We should do a profile on the upcoming conference on democracy. We can organize it by making a chart and showing what is scheduled for each day. We can do some interviews of students about their opinions on the conference of democracy and have small blurbs about what conference of democracy is (for freshman) and also a short blubs about the specific speakers this year.
Interviews: students, teachers, students who have been directly involved with conference in the past
4. 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!
5. 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. This could be a very small/short piece in the newspaper.
1. A&E: Showings of the Fall theatre production begin on November 4th, and I think it would be cool if in the next edition we had an article that talked about the main themes of the play and the people who play a key role in making it all happen. We could get some of the actors views on it and see what they think other MA students will think of it.
2. Feature: When the next edition is published we will already have been in school for a few months, and it might be interesting to do a piece on how the freshman like going to school at MA. Is it what they expected? How have things changed since the beginning of the year? We could also get a teachers perspective on how they think the freshmen have been able to adjust to high school.
3. Feature: The college application process; how the seniors have been able to balance it all along with school work and other activities. I think that around this time of year it is probably pretty stressful for seniors, so we could interview the students along with some teachers and ask them how they think the seniors are doing with balancing the workload.
4. A lot of people had article ideas about Thanksgiving and I think it would be fun if we had a piece about what peoples plans are for the holiday (teachers and students), and what some of their favorite traditions are.
5. November 9th is the first day of winter sports. We could interview the coaches about what their goals are for the season and who they think the biggest competitors are. We could interview a few students as well about what they think will be their toughest challenges throughout the season.
1. Senior speeches: a comparison between speeches and senior arts. Why do students choose to do a senior arts instead of a speech and vise versa? Interview seniors who chose senior arts and seniors that chose speeches.
2. Sports update: How are all the fall sports teams doing? What teams are going to be challenging in the future? Interview captains and coaches, also ask about goals from this point in the season to the end of the season.
3. The circle: There seems to be some secretive past life of the circle that the kids that were 'here for it' feel is missing now. What was the 'old circle' like? Why do students think it has changed? Should it be 'brought back'?
4. SATs: For sophomores and juniors, its PSAT and SAT season. How is the test designed? How accurate do MA teachers think it is in determining the quality of a student?
5. Clubs: What are the clubs of MA up to? What events are they planning? Who are the leaders?
Interview the leaders and students in the clubs.
1. I posted something similar to this last time, but I thought I could still put it out there: 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.
2. This is similar to Claire's, but I thought we could do an overview of all of the clubs that are offered here at MA. A lot of people only know of a few, so this would be a nice, comprehensive way to get everyone informed.
3. I'm not sure if we've done this in the past, but I think we could do an interesting article on religion at Marin Academy. I know there are many different faiths that are practiced here, and it would be interesting to see how it impacts the school. I can see a nice chart going along side the article with a statistical breakdown of the different religions practiced at MA.
4. The Mill Valley Film Festival will have come to MA by the time the next issue is released. How did the community react to the screening of "The Most Dangerous Man In America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers." Has there been a recurring film festival that comes to MA or is this new? Should it be kept?
5. The MA Voice previously posted an article about the English III course possibly being integrated into the curriculum. Now that it has been and juniors have had time to experience it, how has it been? A general overview of the course and opinions from faculty/students would be a must.
1. Feature: What does MA do for the holidays? we could look at how people talk about the festive season. Different greetings like Happy Holidays vs. Merry Christmas or HAppy Hanukkah. Look at how "P.C." we are.
Interviews: MA student body, TRavis, Lynn Hansen
2. Feature or Opinion: There was an opinion piece in the NY times on how the human brain retains information from a screen vs. a real book. We could do piece on based on how MA students and teachers prefer to do reading/studying and is what they prefer the way they feel they remember the most.
Interviews: Brad Lakritz, MAth teachers, English/History teacher, art teachers (for different perspectives) and students.
3. Sports: Playing in the rain- is it more important to stretch and get a proper warm-up and cool-down? How are routines changed? Are you really more likely to get sick after getting really wet and cold?
Interviews: Aaron Gill, Liz Gottlieb, Josh Kalkstein. Any coaches or players active in outdoor sports.
4.Feature: Since we'll be coming up on the big flu season, we could look at some myths about getting sick.And maybe we could try and find out where the most germs are on campus (doors, floors, tables, bathrooms??) ex) is it better to wash your hands in cold water or hot? Does using too much Purell actually decrease immunity? Use of antibiotics? Feed the cold, starve the fever.
Interviews: Science teachers, students, parents of students that are doctors.
5.A&E: We always say we are too busy to read, but it's interesting that we make time for our favorite T.V. shows of the season. What ppl are watching/ Why is reading dying?
Interview: Sara Houghteling, Nicole, Joe Harvey, Derek, students
1. Op/Ed
I agree that we should look at the SAT's/college admission process in general. I think it would be interesting to survey students and see how many do SAT tutoring, how many buy SAT prep books, how many go east to visit schools, etc. It would be interesting to add up the total costs of all these things (SAT tutoring, books, cost of actually taking SATs and SATIIs, cost of a college trip to the east coast, cost of application to each school) and see how expensive the college application process really is. This could maybe be an add-on to a larger article about the SATs/college applications.
Interviews: juniors, seniors, college counselor, teachers who write recommendations
2. Sports
Off-season training: how do students who participate in competitive sports stay fit during the off-season?
Interviews: athletic department, esp. the new trainer
3. Feature
Computers in the library: my freshman year, we had 4 or 5 on the desk by the stairs, laptops, and 6 by the silent study room, and they just keep disappearing. Why is this? The library can get pretty hectic when people are scrambling for computers to print out their papers 5 minutes before class starts- why not just have more computers like we used to?
Interviews: Derek, students
4. Feature
It's an off-season for sports, and many people have extra free time in winter. What are some good ways to get involved and fill up that time? Talk about different local volunteer jobs, after school programs, etc.
5. I think it would be kind of fun to see what type of music students like to listen to in the morning on their way to school. Radio, CD, or ipod? Upbeat or mellow? Just have a few blurbs from different students. This would be a really small short piece.
Sports:
Hitting the slopes, going off what jen said, skiing vs snowboarding. But also where people like to go, how often people go skiing/boarding and any other skiing/boarding stories. Interviews Students, Outings Leaders, Peter Poutiatine.
Feature or News: California's Water Issue
I was recently in physics class when Ken Lanik told us about this major problem that is much more serious than a drought yet no politicians are talking how dire the issue is becoming. We could interview students about how much they think they know and then summarize what is actually happening. Interviews: Students, Science Teachers, someone in the administration to find out if MA has reacted in any way.
Op/Ed:
Obama winning the Nobel Prize. A lot of MA was unquestionably pro Obama during the election. How do people feel about Obama winning the prize? And now that he's been office for almost a year, does the MA community approve the things he's done so far?
A and E:
During the last few MA concerts, there have been a lot of problems caused by students sneaking in and sitting in the side areas of the theater. And at the same time, there are Thursday shows that seem half empty. Are their other options for the concerts? Interviews: Bob Shleeter, Dart Brown, Annie Elias, music students.
Feature:
It's raining!! How does the rain affect the MA community, how do students react to rain? With dreary depression? or passionate dances? Everything rain related.
Interviews: Anyone
Jamie M.
1. Op/Ed
I know Mary mentioned this in class, but something about the Conference on Democracy and whether it only represents the Democratic side of issues
2. Sports
I like Jen's idea about the lack of winter sports... and I think it would be cool to do a poll or some sort of graphic ASF that would show students satisfaction (or dissatisfaction) with the current choices
3. I know MA has a ton of days off from school (this week and next week!)I think an article that compared the number of vacation days MA gives, with some of the other high schools would be interesting. Which school observes the most holidays? What religious days do schools deem important enough to give off? Any religion not observed at all?
4. A&E: This is an idea I submitted last edition that I think would still work: 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.
5. My sophomore science class recently talked about the number 350, and what it means. Currently there are 387 ppm of CO2 in the atmosphere, but we need to reduce that number to 350 ppm in order to prevent irreversible damage to our world's environmental system. All over the country "actions" are being organized to promote the 350 movement, and I think even Eco Council has something planned for the whole school related to 350. It would be interesting to do an article about the 350 movement and what things MA students do (and can begin doing) to be environmentally conscious. Must interviews would be Eco Council members.
Sports: a comprehensive look at bay area pro sports coming up. attempt to cover as much as possible.
interview: people at school interested in sports.
Feature: the thanksgiving assembly. what will it include this year? who will be in it? what does it mean to the MA community?
interview: bob schleeter, any students participating in it.
Feature: is twitter for old people? (similar to sarah strands article about the y-generation) what students use twitter? why some choose not to. possibly include an informal survey of users vs. non-users.
interview: anyone with twitter or strong opinions against it.
Feature: a overall article listing all the MA clubs and leaders. each club could have a blurb about it and possibly quotes. it would be a way for people to be able to see all the available clubs at MA.
interviews: club leaders, club participants
Feature: where kids eat at lunch. we could set up a poll (on either survey monkey, or in the bblc, less formally) and figure out if people it on or off campus? where off campus? and why?
interviews: students who go off campus, local restaurant workers who serve MA students
Sir Frog is Alec
Sports: I was thinking we could write an article about if we met our goals. Did the fall teams do better or worse than expected? People we could interview include Josh Frechette, various sports coaches and players.
Features: A year ago when Barack Obama was running for president, political engagment seemed pretty high among the students and the faculty. Now that he has been elected, people seem less interested and excited than they used to be. Does interest seem to be dropping off and if so, why? People we could interview could be Sanjai Moses and various equity club leaders.
Features: Building on Sarah Tillman's idea, we should DEFINITELY do a profile on the mock trial team. This is its third year at MA and I believe that the Voice has given it little attention. Besides doing a profile on the team, I think we should do an entire article. We should also talk about what their goals are for this year and how they plan to improve.
Features: I think this issue we are doing an article about the one acts. This time, we should do an article about how the audience liked the one acts and should the theater department do one acts again? People we could interview include anyone who saw the one acts and probably a couple of the actors.
Opinion: Again, I think the point counterpoint about starting the school at 9 and ending it at 3:20 and 3:45 should be explored. Basically, the arguments for changing the time include sleeping later and long commute. The arguments against are less time for homework, sports and play rehearsals.
1. Sports: Fall Sports Recap
Like Anna's idea, the issue will come out just as fall sports are finishing off so we could report the final successes of each team and interview some players and coaches to see how the season went for them.
2. Feature: List of Events
With the holiday season and finals coming up, another list of events would be good.
3. Feature: Thanksgiving Gratitude cont.
Continuing on Katie's idea, we could ask students and teachers to give short quotes on what they are thankful for and what they do for thanksgiving or what they plan on doing.
4. A&E: Winter Production Preview
What is the winter play this year? Who's directing it and what is it going to be like?
5. Feature: The Bulletin
I personally never get the bulletin because neither my A or D block teachers read it. So we could do an article about how important the bulletin actually is and if there is a more effective way for students to get it.
1. Features: Review of Restaurant
With the bagel shop closed due to God knows what (probably illegal distribution of bagels), many kids are left ravaging the city for a decent meal for a low cost. We can review restaurants such as Confucius, Tenkyu, Bigg Dogg etc. No interviews.
Marshall Levensohn
Death of the Bagel Shop: Without the Bagel Shop being active so far this year, where are the places to get a quick bite to eat. It served last year as a place to go quickly to before a tutorial or if you were in a time crunch, and without it many MA students have suffered. Has less people going to the bagel shop also increased the amount of people eating the café?
People to interview: Students, possibly neighbors of the bagel shop
Flu Season: This fall we have experienced a huge amount of absences at school from kids being sick. If the amount of illnesses are supposed to exponentially increase this winter will we have enough kids to even conduct school?
People to interview: Lindsay(about absences) Science Teacher, Travis
Where are the MA Turkeys? As thanksgiving comes just after the publication of this issue, we are still yet to encounter our old gobbling friends. The Turkeys not only served as a symbol to our school last year but they became a member of the community. Although Berk Norman says, "They migrated," and "Do you want us to find them, we don't know where they went." I think that we should write a tribute to our old pals.
People to interview: We could talk to some science teachers that might have a better idea about where the turkeys went.
MA Plants: We have such a wide variety of vegetation on our campus from the fruits and veggies in the garden, to the great tree in the circle, and this green and white tree I'm staring at from the window. We seem to take our beautiful campus for granted sometimes and showing how much we have would be cool.
People to interview: Eco Council, Bio Teachers, Maybe Travis
Basketball Team: The basketball team had a really successful season last year, and as Patrick said in his speech, he will do everything it takes to lead MA to a championship this year. We should interview Patrick about the history of the basketball team since he has been on it, and see what his goals are this year.
Interview: Patrick, Basketball Coach,
1. Sports: as the fall sports come to an end, I think that we should do a piece about how each team did. Did our teams turn out as expected? Why or why not? How does this compare to the previous years in that particular sport? This article could be a nice transition from the ending of fall sports into basketball.
2.Op/Ed:
Should MA e-mail be allowed to be used as kids announcing their lost items? Recently I have been receiving a lot of emails from kids who have lost something. This is annoying and cluttering my e-mail. We have a bulletin, which can be used for this very purpose of announcing lost items.
3. Feature: Our first edition we did a piece on all of the exotic and interesting places kids went this summer. It may be too early for this but it would be cool to do a piece on the cool places students are going for thanksgiving winter break .If we did this in the upcoming edition it would probably just be what kids have planned out for winter break, but if we did this later we could actually get photos from what kids did this winter break.
4. Feature: After school kids who don't have a fall sport have been able to do "fitness" training. We should do an interview on what this is and how it helps. I don't really know anything about this, and neither do a lot of people in school, so that’s why we should do an article on it to inform people about it. Who runs it?
How much P.E. credit is rewarded for it?
5. Feature: The neighbors of the school. How do we affect them? How do they affect us? We could interview some of the neighbors and ask if they have ever been disrupted by students or had encounters with them. We could also interview students to see what kind of encounters they've had with the neighbors.
1. Sports: Similar to last newspaper I think we should write about all of the up and coming freshman participating in varsity winter sports. I think it is better to write this before the season starts, so we can get out the word of this star freshman athletes! Must interviews: freshman.
2. Feature: There should be a comprehensive chart of all of the colleges that are coming to MA, along with a brief description about the college and the "projected qualifications" necessary to be accepted into the school. I think this will be very beneficial for the Juniors and Seniors who are very anxious about where they want to go to college. Also in the chart there could be a list of (if any) the MA students that attend or are alumni of the colleges.
3. Op/Ed: I have in mind a piece about whether or not the PSAT should be held during the school week, or during the weekend. Personally I think Marin Academy should have a PSAT day where the students are then let out of school after they complete it. Since there are so many days off at MA why not let the students take the PSAT during the school week. I know the majority of students rather take the PSAT during the week than on a Saturday morning, therefore we should take a poll of the students that either agree or oppose the day of the PSAT.
4. Feature: I think that there should be a feature about the alumni currently involved at Marin Academy. All alumni that are involved in outings or are teaching at MA should be mentioned in this article. I always see alumni go up and talk during assembly, so why not get their names out to the MA community. A bio of each alumni is a must and the must interviews are the alumni.
5. Feature: What animals are present at Marin Academy? Instead of always talking about humans why not talk about animals at MA. There are owls near the art room, pigeons on the Science building, and there might still be turkeys lurking around. Must interviews: Mark Stefanski and other animal lovers.
2. Feature: Kids who ride the bus: have it be a a sort of scenario in which we describe the difficulties/advantages of coming from SF/the Eastbay. Interviews: people who ride the bus
3. Feature on Thanksgiving Assembly. When did it start, why was it made. Is it carrying out that initial intended goal?
Interviews - 20+ year teachers, Lynn, Travis
4. Op-Ed/ Sports - The soccer culture at MA - Do fans watch Soccer or do they watch their friends? I have talked to many soccer players and they have expressed some animosity towards fans for favoring some players over others. If fans like soccer so much why arent there any fans at girls soccer games?
5. POp-Ed - culture at MA i.e. the cliques, splits, and everything in between. Theater kids athletes
5.
1. Feature/A&E: Slaptop! This could be either on one or more graduated MA musicians and what they've been up to. I understand that they and Rozzi have been doing pretty well after leaving MA.
2. Feature: Grandparents and "Special Friends" day: This could be either a feature or an Op-Ed and could take any sort of stance on this day: funny or serious, it's pointless, it's awesome, it's really nice to have family and special friends around school etc.
3. Feature: The MA climbing team. This is kind of in response to the lack of winter sports article idea. The club had a growing and pretty consistent following last year after years of mediocre attendance. The article could serve to inform students that may be curious or are looking for something new or interesting to do during the winter.
4. I wholeheartedly second Marshall Levensohn's "Death of the Bagel Shop" idea. I am one of a number of students that knows little about what really happened to the bagel shop and would really like to know what happened. Is it out of business? For this article we could try to contact anyone at Marin Bagel Co. or any disappointed or excited (if they exist) students.
5. Feature/Sports: Girls Varsity Volleyball. So girls volleyball has a 12-1 record and has not been getting very much attention for it. By the time the article comes out, they will presumably be preparing for NCS finals given that they have pretty much destroyed all of their competition in NCS. If not, this article could be a wrap-up or summary of the successes of the season even after losing so many talented seniors.
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