Students have lots of homework to do, teachers have many tests, quizzes, and papers to grade, and staff has schedules to make and emails to send; why would anyone want to put so much effort into Whittier?
There are many pros and cons of being in Whittier. Although the English 9 curriculum doesn’t have journalistic writing, Mrs. Kenney, the English 9 teacher, explains, “Any writing is helpful. The more you write, the better. It’s a way of thinking.”
Mrs. Kenney says she is interested in anything the Whittier students say, but she would especially like to hear about what fascinates and scares them.
Mrs. Kenney wasn’t in her high school newspaper, but she was in a literary magazine and said, “I really loved it. I loved the editing piece. I liked to choose from different pieces and put them together.” Mrs. Kenney also hints at the fact that one of the books the English 9 students will read is investigative journalism. She notes this could be a fun book for the ninth-grade students already in Whittier because they would be reading a similar genre to what they write while on staff.
Not all students are eager to join the Whittier.
Piper Roskovensky, a junior, says, “I’ve never had a strong passion for writing articles, so I personally haven’t joined it. It seems like something that requires a lot of work, but it must be very fulfilling for people who write on it.”
Piper understands that Whittier is a very serious newspaper and can, at times, be a lot of work, but she also thinks that people read it and enjoy the publications. “I see a lot of students reading it, especially when they put the new issue in the Java Nook,” she says.
She also said she liked Ethan Halaby’s article a lot, “I like the Hunger Games article from the last Whittier! I loved how it also engaged the students using a Google form.”
When asked what she wants to see written about in Whittier, she said, “I like hearing about things that are happening around the school as well as global things. It could be about issues that people are facing or accomplishments that happen. I really like when the articles involve teachers too!”
Mr. Peter Tignalia is the ninth-grade advanced math teacher and was the advisor for Whittier last year (23-24). “My experience was mostly positive, largely due to Mr. Scott’s excellent guidance on how to be a sponsor, Pablo and Tess’s unwavering commitment to the work, and Terry Maguire’s passion for the paper’s history. I enjoyed helping the team create and manage deadlines for each production cycle, navigate the editing process, and grow their skills as content creators and curators.”
It was difficult for Peter to name which article stood out the most. “I’d have to say Tess’s columns on the affinity and alliance groups, Jemima’s farewell to Mrs. Zug, Micah’s farewell to Mr. Scott, and pretty much the entire April Fool’s issue were standouts for me.”
Not everything went smoothly for Peter. He says one of the challenging things was for students to meet deadlines. Peter says that Whittier is different from doing homework; you are the only one affected if it is turned in late. “When you work on The Whittier, you are part of a team and missing your deadline has a downstream impact on others’ ability to do their job. I hope this is something this year’s team thinks about carefully as they produce each issue.”
Mr. Maguire is the archivist for Wilmington Friends and knows a lot about Whittier because he was the faculty sponsor for many years. Maguire notes that the Whittier stopped being a literary magazine in May 1957. The people leading it decided to write instead of continuing to be a literary magazine.
Mr. Maguire was especially impressed when he read in the fall 2024 issue that senior Anya Agarwal started a curriculum with a teacher. “Anya Agarwal started a curriculum with a teacher.” To explain further, Anya Agarwal, one of the leaders of Whittier, talked to Mrs. Agne, a middle school social science teacher at Friends, and created a curriculum on South Asian history. The curriculum will be implemented in the spring of 2025.
There are some cons to joining Whittier. One could argue that it’s too much writing or too much like a class, but joining Whittier could also benefit you. The benefits of being in Whittier include improving writing skills, finding a community to bond with, and joining a group that can only evolve.
