The first quarter has ended and Thanksgiving Break is finally on the horizon! With this November edition, Spyglass presents a myriad of very engaging and Westridge-relevant stories including investigations on the influx of mosquitoes on campus, the cat Ms. Erica St. John saved in the Westridge parking lot, and this year’s lack of signups for the previously very popular middle school club, Water Warriors. 

In other Spyglass news, from November 1st to 4th, seven members of our staff attended the JEA/NSPA National High School Journalism Convention, a gathering of high school journalists and advisors from across the country, in Boston. Our staffers had the chance to attend several workshops a day with topics ranging from “Everything I Learned from Taylor Swift and Barbie” to “Covering the Hard Stuff” as well as visit The Christian Science Monitor, The Boston Globe, and The Daily Free Press at Boston University. Like 2022’s Convention, staffers came back with an abundance of ideas to improve Spyglass’ website, story coverage, and promotion.

Since publishing our last edition, we’ve learned about and had to grapple with the ongoing tragedies in the Middle East. These events have forced our staff to not only reflect on personal devastation, but also consider how we as a high school newspaper report on such atrocities with delicacy, care, and truth, especially in climates where truth seems so subjective. How can we as a newspaper report objectively, while also holding a place for those affected to grieve? 

We resolved to report on Westridge’s response, and more specifically, student response, to the Israel-Hamas War, dedicating the majority of a class period to discussing the whos, whats, wheres, whens, whys, and hows of Westridge’s response. In subsequent class periods, we examined how even a source like The New York Times was not immune to reporting biased information on the situation. 

As a school newspaper, yes, Spyglass seeks to inform, but in our mission statement, we also emphasize our role to evoke empathy, especially in difficult times like these. We encourage our readers to do the same.