We are Eye on the Storm, otherwise known as J. Clarke Richardson Collegiate’s Newspaper Club. Ever since 2003, we have released articles on all different topics. These range from in-school events, clubs and teams to pop culture, wrestling, mental health, fictional stories and so much more. In 2023, we decided to start up our physical newspaper copies once again. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, the newspaper had many physical iterations, however, our new, by-weekly newsletter would mirror the short-form content consumed in the current age.
First Iteration (2023):
Our newsletter contains snippets of our online articles, highlights of recent school and world events, and short stories. We carefully selected the most important, relevant and attention-catching pieces of writing created by our skilled writers.
The first edition, featured on the left, was our first attempt to create a piece of content that students and staff would enjoy. We settled on a more modern, and organized theme, highlighting our name on the top of the page, as well as the name of this publication. Here you can see an overview of JCR’s first semi-formal event after COVID, a look into Richardson’s trivia team and Model UN club. The newsletter also contained a fun, and lighthearted section on Disney movies and their related character traits. This took a lot of work from our members to put together, and they should be proud of the successful release of their work.
Second Iteration (2023):
Our second iteration brought forward a more classic touch, reaching back to the roots of Eye on the Storm as a newspaper publication. Our team decided to change our format to the more recognizable, old-school, newspaper style. This came after much learning from our first newsletter and its observed engagement metrics.
This format change allowed us to embrace our journalism, and showcase our school’s brilliance on the front page. On this page, a snippet of our annual Winter Arts Showcase was presented. The large image, featuring Richardson’s concert band, catches our readers’ attention, enticing them to read more about what our school has to offer. We also had parts dedicated to Richardson’s first-ever Diwali dinner, and Seussical the musical.
On the back page of the newsletter, we focused on events outside of school that many of our readers had an interest in.
Headlining the page was an article snippet about the world of wrestling in the last year. It is excellently written by a dedicated member of 3 years of our executive team. The snippet teases what will be covered in the full article on our website.
On the side panel, we had a piece on the Spotify Wrapped. As the year came to an end, many of us enjoyed looking at the visual representation of our listening habits, and, as a result, shared our listening habits with our peers.
Also on the side panel is a highlight of a short story written by one of our creative writers.
Overall we hope the students and staff at our school come to enjoy and appreciate our By-weekly Forecast. This, hopefully, can drive more readers to our site, and recognize the efforts of our committed writers.
