Student Journalism at Walnut Hills High School

WVXU's Howard Wilkinson meets with The Chatterbox staff at Walnut Hills High School.

Like many high schools, students at Walnut Hills High School in Cincinnati have the opportunity to learn the ins and outs of journalism first hand by working on their campus newspaper, The Chatterbox. During the 2015 – 2016 school year WVXU politics reporter Howard Wilkinson is serving as a volunteer adviser to the newspaper’s staff.

Walnut Hills High School is a secondary school with a diverse student body and a reputation for academic excellence. Wilkinson was editor of his own high school newspaper and spent many years as a newspaper reporter before coming to public radio in April 2012. With journalism teacher Samantha Gerwe-Perkins, Wilkinson is advising the students on various aspects of putting together a campus newspaper – writing styles, editing, news judgment, how to find and develop sources for stories, beat coverage and taking national and international stories and making them relevant to the Walnut Hills High School student body. Their discussions also include how to find reliable and reputable sources of news in this social media age.

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Student Journalists at Walnut Hills High School, Cincinnati

 

We’ll check in with Howard as he meets with the students throughout the year and share his experience and insights working with this next generation of journalists.

The Chatterbox is a print newspaper which is published every couple of weeks. There is an online version, but Ms. Gerwe-Perkins says the print version is much more popular. That’s in line with the trend on other high school and college campuses. Students like having the tactile newspaper experience.

Is this the case on your campus? Share your experiences working with student journalists.

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Members of the Chatterbox staff listen intently.

 

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