How the XIIIs Newspaper Is Made
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by Desi G and Kemdi I, Class of 2025. Originally published in Whole Lotta News, the XIIIs newspaper. Student last names removed for privacy. Although the XIIIs newspaper comes out almost every month, there is a lot that goes on behind the scenes. Most of the time the XIIIs are already scheduling interviews for Issue 5 before Issue 4 has even been sold. There is a process that the XIIIs follow, and each XIII is a part of a team that makes the paper what it is.When an issue of the newspaper is finished with all the revisions done and all the videos filmed and edited, then the online paper is released. Once the digital edition is out, the next issue of the newspaper begins with a document that outlines the roles and responsibilities of all the XIIIs. Each student signs up for work on beats, news, features, and editorials. Deadlines are posted on this document. For example, first drafts of articles are due on a specific date. The writing process is challenging because XIIIs must write articles that are both interesting and informative.
“The hardest part of interviewing is actually getting the people to say something interesting, and the hardest part about writing is that sometimes you might not have enough content to write an article,” said Donovan, XIIIs. Once people finish their drafts the main editor, Ann Roberts, works with the managing editors to clean up the drafts. “The managing editors make sure that in the beginning of the process everyone knows what article they are writing,” said River, XIIIs. The managing editors also make sure that all the edits from Ann are finished. They also edit some of the articles themselves. This is a very tiring process because there is an abundance of articles that need to be edited, but only four editors to do them. “ The most challenging part of being a managing editor is making sure that all of the articles, photos, and videos are turned in,” said Imani, XIIIs. Once all the articles have been edited, the Glide team starts to work on the online newspaper. “We set up all the digital newspapers in a spreadsheet and then we design the layout,” said Harry, XIIIs. The entire online newspaper is stored on a Google spreadsheet with different sheets for Beats, Editorials, Features, News, Podcasts or videos like engagement videos and C&C nights. “The most challenging part for the Glide team is making sure that all the photos, videos, titles, and text are in the spreadsheet,” said Harry. When everything is on the spreadsheet, the Glide team starts to work on designing the online newspaper and continually checks to make sure there are no glitches. Once the online paper is released, the print layout team starts working on the layout for the print version. The main application they use is Adobe InDesign. Once they have finished working on the layout, they print out each page separately so they can copy and print them into book form using specific instructions. “Being on the print layout team can be difficult, but it is also very fun to make the games for everyone,” said Desi, XIIIs. But before the print edition can be released, the PR team and engagement team take action. The PR team sends out emails and puts up posters letting the community know that the newspaper is out. The Engagement team is in charge of making the covers for every issue of the paper as well as making the engagement videos in the online newspaper. All these teams working together make the newspaper what it is, and each team offers some special skill that allows the newspaper to keep on rolling. ### The final two issues of the 2024-25 student newspaper will be available for sale on Friday, May 30, and Thursday, June 12. |
