Lewis & Clark High School seniors Isabelle Parekh and Trevor Picanco completed an internship this summer at The Spokesman-Review as part of the newspaper’s Teen Journalism Institute. That experience inspired the duo to team up with four of their classmates to create The Tiger Tribune, an online platform that serves as a creative outlet for LC students.
You won’t find traditional hard news reporting, but that’s not the purpose of the Tribune. Instead, you’ll find student voices documenting the best fall products from Trader Joe’s, a Hozier album review, a guide to the school library, the viewpoint of a foreign exchange student and more.
“It showcases, generally, what teenagers care about, said Aramena Joos. “It does get more into the political news side of things, but then it gets into the simple, need-to-know things.”
The six editors – Joos, Parekh, Picanco, Ellis Benson, Madison Rickel and Andrew Pickering—accept submissions from any student. There’s even an easy proposals tab on the Tribune’s website. Editors read over each proposal, then reach out to the students who submitted them.
The editors brainstorm story ideas as a group, and final publications go through a two-editor process.
It’s still early in the school year, so the Tribune will continue to churn out student voices. The project is extracurricular and a way for students to practice a craft they’re interested in.
“I’ve always enjoyed writing and poetry and enjoyed it in an English class, but also in a personal sense,” Joos said. “I’ve considered going into journalism in a political or more global sense. The Tribune allows me to be able to hone my skills and express myself.”
“All of us are readers, and that's kind of where we all start,” added Rickel.
The internship at The Spokesman-Review Parekh and Picanco completed has informed a lot of what the Tribune is, and the editors rely on their expertise.
“Their internship influenced our editing process because we want to respect the writers,” Rickel said. “We try to work with them by talking to them instead of just editing the writing and putting it out.”
It helps that each of the six editors have different interests and backgrounds. Embracing those differences helps inform the content of the Tribune.
“Our common thread is reading, but we all have our own specific interests which also helps choosing who to edit what and having different perspectives on the same articles,” Rickel said.
The editors hope to pass the Tribune down to the other classes at LC, with hopes that it will continue after they graduate. Until then, they’ll continue to hone their writing skills and creativity as they develop the online publication throughout the school year.