School newspapers give a hopeful template for the future of journalism.

There are more than a few doomsayers out there with predictions about how journalism is dying and Gen Z doesn’t have the attention span to read a news story. After spending a couple of hours in a high school newspaper classroom, I’m here to report: Those reports are greatly exaggerated.

The staff of The Rancho Review at Rancho San Juan High School in Salinas is getting ready to publish the final issue of the school year. The staff behind this digital publication are all students – editor Samantha Pamintuan stands in front of the classroom, asks her peers to pitch stories and makes assignments. (A yearbook drama about leaked pages makes the cut; an investigation into why facilities like bathroom doors seem to be failing just four years after this new school opened is a maybe.)

Students manage everything. And that’s part of what John Bruce, an English teacher and The Rancho Review adviser, aims to teach. “The idea is that students not only learn how to read media, and read misinformation vs. accurate information, but they learn teamwork, how to fundraise,” Bruce says. “In short, they are kind of running a business.”

The Rancho Review started in 2020, during the first-ever school year for Salinas’ newest high school. This is the first year there has been a class, in addition to an after-school newspaper club. While the class does a lot of the heavy lifting, it’s the extracurricular club that ultimately publishes, partly because it has fundraising capabilities and because it has more editorial freedom, with less oversight from the administration.

It’s the same model in use at some long-established school newspapers, like The Carmel Sandpiper at Carmel High. Students there publish about nine issues a year, at a printing cost of $1,200 per edition; beyond their annual school budget of $7,500, students fundraise and sell ads to make up the difference (and also fund a scholarship for aspiring journalists).

“I have more students who are going to consider journalism as a major this year than ever – it’s really tremendous,” says teacher Mike Palshaw, who’s overseen The Sandpiper since 2008.

This has been a busy year for news, with lots of drama at CHS and the district office that has made headlines in professional local papers as well, such as the removal of the former principal and a pending investigation into the superintendent’s handling of that personnel decision. The Sandpiper has broken stories that underpin some of this current saga, such as complaints of sexual harassment.

“It’s always challenging to write about the district and the school,” Palshaw says. “A school newspaper primarily writes about its own parent company.”

Recent stories include news about the appointment of a district board member, and the retirement of a math teacher who flouted the school’s mask mandate and was on administrative leave. There are features about a poetry slam and students pursuing military careers.

“We have different stories to attract different audiences,” says CHS senior Sophia Bone. “If we had only straight news I don’t think we would have as many student readers; entertainment gets them to open it in the first place.”

At upstart Rancho Review, students are still brainstorming how to market their publication, and hope to fundraise for a bigger presence and a dedicated URL; they’ve looked to Alisal High’s Trojan Tribune for ideas. (Sadly, with too few students enrolled, Rancho San Juan does not plan to offer the class again next year.) Recent stories include a piece by newspaper president Gabriela Jaramillo revealing why the school mascot is the Trailblazers and its color is orange, and a first-person narrative by Pamintuan reflecting on her Filipina heritage in a predominantly Latino city. “I know more Spanish than Tagalog,” she wrote. “Have gone to more quinceañeras than debuts… not once have I been required to read a book written by an Asian in one of my English classes.”

Advisers like Bruce and Palshaw say that not only are student journalists contributing real journalism to their communities, but the class helps cultivate critical thinking skills. “Teenagers love their phones, they love TikTok,” Palshaw says. “They love getting news through bits and pieces. Yet like any young generation, they are skeptical. One question is, should I believe this? As far as journalism goes, that’s exactly what you want.”

SARA RUBIN is the Weekly’s editor. Reach her at sara@mcweekly.com.