November 13, 2012
By Katy Murphy
Student journalism in Oakland has popped up at yet another high school. At Castlemont High, students have launched an online site with a wonderfully old-school newspaper name, the Castle Crier.
AP English language students are the publication’s first reporters. Guided by teacher Marguerite Sheffer, they post updates three or four times a week. This winter, the Crier will have its first print edition.
Today, we can read all about John Lynch, the new principal of the newly consolidated school, an ethnic studies partnership with San Francisco State, and what it’s like to be an Asian-American at Castlemont. Not to mention an exclusive interview with Castlemont’s Freshman Princess, photographed in a Raiders hat and Holy Names University sweatshirt.
As a journalist who wrote for her own high school newspaper (The Torch looks so 21st Century now!), I find it heartening to see teenagers learning how to tell newspaper stories and report what’s going on around them.
Across town at McClymonds High, the Mack Smack blog is still going strong, and Fremont High’s Green and Gold newspaper is award-winning. Oakland Tech’s paper, The Scribe, came back to life four years ago, and Skyline’s Oracle keeps students up to date on the latest administrative changes and policies.