June 2023 Issue

June 2023 Issue

June 2023 Team
June 5, 2023

The End of An Era 

Joining Tower Times four years ago was easily one of the best things I’ve done in high school. If I was having a rough week, looking forward to Tower Times meetings is what kept me going and reporting helped me figure out I want to become an education reporter in the future. 

When I took over as Editor-in-Chief two years ago, I had a vision for what I wanted Tower Times to be. Now, not only can I say my original vision came to life, but I can say our work has surpassed all the expectations I had. 

In the nine print issues we’ve done, every issue has seen improvement from the last. It may be a subtle layout difference, or it may be the quality of the content published in them.        

Regardless, I am so proud of our Tower Times team and their hard work because that is why we are where we are today. 

Although I’m sad to be leaving, I am so so so excited to watch this team and publication grow and do amazing things. I nicknamed the last two years the ‘Rebuild Era’ because after the 2020-2021 school year, we have had to rebuild a lot of how we run our newsroom. Now though, the Rebuild Era is over and the ‘Growth Era’ has begun. 

The work we’ve done to get here wouldn’t have been possible without the entire school community. Thank you for reading and interacting with Tower Times. Thank you for bringing your stories forward for the school community to read. Thank you for allowing us to continue informing and entertaining you with our work. 

Next year is going to bring a lot of new opportunities for everyone as Tower Times begins to expand beyond print media. And so, I’ve said it many times, but I’m going to say it again: if you have ever felt like joining Tower Times, do it. Your voice matters and we want to give you a place to share your ideas. 

This publication is special, this team is special, and it will only get better if you join. So, try it out next year and see where it takes you. You won’t regret it and who knows, it could change your life too.

— Anavi Prakash (2021-2023 Editor-In-Chief)

The Beginning of a New One

I am honored and incredibly excited to be the Editor-in-chief of Tower Times this upcoming school year! Our team has gained great momentum these past two years and we don’t plan on stopping, either.

We’re going to really focus on expanding the ways we create content next year. There’s been a lot of talk about podcasting, short and long-form video, and other formats so our reporters can focus on areas where they shine. We’ve also purchased new equipment that will enable us with better soft- ware to do layout and graphics, which is something that I’ve been working on for a while.

In terms of actual content, I want to continue to work on putting student voices first. Anavi has done an outstanding job of reporting on issues that the student body faces in school and throughout the community, and I want to make sure that continues.

I’m also interested in helping reporters find their niche. It’s wonderful when students are passionate about a topic because, naturally, their reporting is more passionate as well. We have dedicated columns like the Club Column that have a clear focus, but we also have reporters that loosely report around certain topics every issue based on what they want to do. I would love to help foster that next year so students are increasingly excited about the content that we put out, and our reporters are motivated to focus on what they want to report on.

As always, I implore you to join Tower Times. We are as strong as ever, but more people means more opportunities to expand into areas we haven’t before. I want Tower Times to be a place for students of all interests across several mediums, not just traditional print journalism. More people enables us to achieve that reality. So, if you’re not interested in writing, but you do like videography, photography, graphic design, or any other discipline that is related to journalism, please join us next year! You won’t be disappointed.

— Bill Lewis (2023-2024 Editor-In-Chief)

To access  the complete June issue, click here.