An Awakening: Baruch Journalism Workshop
On March 10th, our fellows at Eagle Express showed out at the 2023 Baruch College High School Journalism Program.
Accompanied by several top highschool papers, the program highlighted the Best NYC public High School Journalism winners, or newsies as they called it. The one day journalism program hosted by well known journalists, reporters, and editors consisted of writing, editing, photography, management, and most importantly creating compelling stories that would attract audiences. I alongside the company of our great writers (Ranyeli Rodriguez, Katie Urena, Jocelyn Cosme, Jason Garcia, Safa Al-Omari, & Yazmin Muniz) felt the energy and a pleasant awakening for the future of the paper which will be mentioned later on.
Along with the awakening, the opportunity provided many of our staff and great writers with an opportunity to enhance our writing. As a relatively new newspaper, our community has been open for feedback. Feedback for writing, attracting larger audiences and most importantly getting our name out there! From my experience at the program, I attended a sports writing workshop where we talked to a sports editor at the New York Times. He mentioned the importance of sports in the journalism field and how while being an open career, it can get pretty stressful as it requires attention to the many inside scoops. One of the most important takeaways that he communicated was that reporting of sports wasn’t about the score or who did what, but rather the points that nobody paid attention to or wanted more coverage of. This can include coverage on what a loss or win meant for a team or zoom in on the turning point of the game. For the sports editors at the Eagle Express, this feedback would help us flourish and enhance our sports articles so let’s get right on it!
A huge takeaway from this one day program was speaking to senator John Liu. Liu is a member of the 16th district in Northeast Queens and was the only first Asian-American ever elected to a citywide post (NYMAG). Students like me got to speak about issues in our everyday lives and with our journalistic mindset, our questions were informative and ought to make change in society.
Now for the most important part. You may have wondered how the Eagle Express “showed out” as mentioned before. Well, we are jubilated and proud to announce that our paper has gotten city wide recognition. Our News editor, Ranyeli Rodriguez, was one of these icons that have greatly influenced and expanded our paper. Her paper on the hurricane that affected the Puerto Rican population 1,600 miles away from our school came in second place city wide for National/World News with a Local Lens. If you haven’t yet read it, make sure to dive in and immerse yourself in Ranyeli’s highly informative and well researched story.
Another one of our News writers, Jason Garcia, came away with first place for best citywide features story. The story based upon college recommendations letters follows the history, relevancy and captures the student experience all in one article. This is truly one of our papers greatest articles and showcases the diversity and compelling stories that are written by our Paper.
The Eagle Express also came away with first place in National/World News with a Local lens for New newspaper in contribution to Safa Al-Omari & Ranyeli Rodriguez who immerse themselves in the news and connection it holds to our school community.
After all these awards it can’t be more clear that the Eagle Express killed it. “We slayed, we’re them” as our fellow peers would say. Award after award, I thought to myself, what does this mean for the future of our paper?
Our amazing writers, editors, staff and advisor, David Fulco, grouped up and came up with one conclusion. The Eagle Express is here to stay, we are here to improve, and we are here to become the best city wide Newspaper. Now who’s with us on that?
Your donation will support the student journalists of The Laboratory School of Finance and Technology. Your contribution will allow us to purchase equipment and cover our annual website hosting costs.
Zoe Alpert
Apr 18, 2023 at 9:50 pm
This article was so cool and such a fun read 🙂 As a writer for a high school paper, it was inspiring to read about all Eagle Expresses accomplishments. I really liked learning about your experience with a writing workshop because that is something I would totally be interested in myself. I also really like how this article feels representative of the entire staff of Eagle Express, because of the list of all the writers. The picture was also such a fun touch to be able to actually see the skilled writers behind this newspaper! Congratulations on your accomplishments and recognition, it’s very well deserved !
Maddie
Apr 18, 2023 at 1:07 pm
I really enjoyed reading this engaging article. The author’s voice is very evident, yet an objective tone is still used. The structure of the article flows and it almost felt like I was personally meeting the Eagle Express staff. Furthermore, great pictures were taken: there were many faces present and they perfectly captured the event described. One of my favorite lines was this one…” The one day journalism program hosted by well known journalists, reporters, and editors consisted of writing, editing, photography, management, and most importantly creating compelling stories that would attract audiences.” This line summarized a lot of the article while also leaving the reader intrigued and eager to learn more. My second favorite line was the quote “we slayed it. We’re them.” Using language like this definitely appeals to the high school audience being targeted and lightens up the mood. Keep up the good work, Briant!
Julia H.
Apr 18, 2023 at 12:28 pm
Hi Briant! I really enjoyed your article, and I was moved by the story, too! I like how you told the story chronologically, almost as if it were a journal entry—it drew me in and made me feel as though I was experiencing the workshop with you and your staff. Your enthusiasm for journalism and the momentum you gained from the workshop is more than evident (especially seen in the details you included, like speaking to senator John Liu and a NYT sports editor). Above all else, I enjoyed your voice and the personal elements you included, like how your peers would say that you “slayed.” 🙂 Overall, great job on the article, and congratulations on your awards! The future of your paper is clearly in good hands.