Dear Cricket Fanatics,
Welcome to the last edition of The Cricket for the 2024-2025 school year. As graduating seniors and the founders of The (digital) Cricket, we thought we would share some insight on the process and write the first ever editor’s letter.
The idea came to us (Sara), while Sara was reading her monthly Vogue. As she read Anna Wintour’s editor’s letter, she got the brilliant idea to write one alongside Quinn for The Cricket. Originally, it was supposed to tag along with every publishing, but between the frenzy of actually editing and getting articles published, we either forgot about it or didn’t have the time. We mostly forgot. But alas, here we are, finally sitting down and actually typing.
Last year, when Dr. Boudreau, the real star of this newspaper, announced that there would be a newspaper along with a journalism class, both of us (separately) thought we would begin our journalistic careers as mere writers in the grand scheme of the great newspaper. Quinn, in particular, thought she would begin—and end—her career with this single year, aiming to spend her college days wrapped only in STEM lectures and experiments. On the other hand, Sara always considered journalism as a possible career path, but didn’t realize how big of a role she would take in The Cricket.
When Fall rolled around and we got to second period Journalism class, Dr. Boudreau had us stay after class, and essentially told us we were the new lead editors. “Cool?” she asked. “Cool,” we answered, with absolutely no idea of what that entailed. Then there was the scramble to find editors and journalists, photographers and videographers: people who actually wanted to be involved. At the same time, we were just beginning to learn how to write articles ourselves; how were we supposed to teach others?
Like all things, we decided to use the most tried and trusted method of any high school senior: wing it. It consisted of a mix of what Dr. Boudreau had taught us in class and our own personal methods for outstanding and polished writing.
The most ingenious strategy we came up with was when we found ourselves needing to teach our journalists how to conduct a formal interview. Sara couldn’t attend one of the extra help meetings, leaving Quinn alone to teach the interview process. This was when Quinn birthed pure interviewing glory. Quinn decided to use a counterexample, showing what not to do when interviewing, by using the iconic Elijah Woods, “Do you wear wigs?” prank interview. What originally started as an on-the-fly example ended up transforming into an exercise demonstrating exactly how to interview. Starting off with the basic questions used in the wigs interview, the interviewee got to make up their own story on the go (lie), while the interviewer had the opportunity to practice more natural conversation rather than just reading off a script of questions. This had the added benefit of being fun at the same time.
Once all of the building blocks were established, we quickly realized we had struck gold, even diamonds perhaps, in the form of Elinor Caviedes. Neither of us are particularly good at scheduling or time management, so from the beginning we had known that a managing editor was a necessity. Elinor created our publishing schedule, from when we have meetings to when articles are due. There was some trouble-shooting, and there was a distinct moment where one day she was discussing that the schedule needed to be altered. “You can just change it if you want to,” Quinn remembers saying. “Actually, please change it.”
Elinor didn’t just make the schedule; she made sure it was followed. Both of us (mostly Quinn) definitely turned in articles late, and weren’t left unscathed by Elinor’s ire. Not only is Elinor a managing powerhouse, but she is also an amazing writer, even if punctuation and grammar personally offends her.
As the season changed and campus filled up with snow and holiday cheer, we knew it was time to put our minds together to release the first publishing of The Cricket. Our first edition of the newspaper went live on December 11th and consisted of thirteen different articles, from news, to features, to sports, and even arts and entertainment, this edition had it all. It was all wrapped up in a bow in the form of Elinor’s article that highlighted the legacy of this paper: “The Cricket: A Newspaper with 125 Years of Journalistic History.”
After all the sweat, tears, and nights of constant editing and refining, The Cricket went live. Once we saw the actual finished product–a majestic website filled with a collection of everyone’s hard work and talent–we couldn’t believe we had actually managed to put it all together. It felt crazy. From that moment on, we’ve continued to work hard in order to publish bimonthly. After the initial publishing, the club doubled in size. We felt oddly proud to see that we had actually managed to draw enough attention to ourselves, and that we actually meant something to people at the school.
Of course, like with everything, there were struggles. There were definitely times where Quinn was hunched over her computer, an hour deep into editing the same article, thinking, “Actually, why am I doing this? I’m going to college for neuroscience.” Or when Sara had to edit at midnight after a long day of managing her time, trying to find the space for every club she’s involved in.
Still, it was ultimately worth it. We love this little group of ours, and the newspaper empire we’ve created. All jokes aside, as this is the first year of The (digital) Cricket, we hope we’ve built this as an example for generations of Grier students to come. A true example of what you can do, if you put in the work, no matter the time you’re given. You can make and run a whole new club in your last year of highschool, as long as you try.
As this is our last edition, we’ve poured our hearts and souls into all of the articles being published today. We hope you enjoy the multiple articles we have to offer this edition, and that you never forget us; the founders of The Cricket, 2024-2025 edition.
With all our love,
Quinn & Sara
(First Generation Co-editors in Chief)
