Wootton’s Common Sense staff is split into two periods where 63 writers work diligently to deliver the latest news and entertainment to our students, staff and audience. Thirty page editors work on designing the print newsmagazine, while the remaining staff writers produce articles that get posted on the Common Sense website.

Before each cycle, there are story meetings where everyone in the class pitches their ideas for articles and pages to adviser Evva Starr and the editors-in-chief. After snaking through the rows of the classroom sharing ideas, there is an opportunity to share more content ideas since “best ideas always come at the end,” Starr says.

After the story meetings, every writer is assigned an article and has the next two weeks of class to complete it. Meanwhile, page editors brainstorm ideas for the print magazine. Within each school year, there are six print issues created. The editors choose which articles they want to display on their pages and come up with a creative design to match.

When press days arrive, editors stay after school until 5 p.m. to work on their pages using programs such as Adobe Photoshop and InDesign. Once an editor finishes their page, they present it to Starr who makes final edits and approves the page. “Then you get to erase your name off of the whiteboard, where we have a list of pages left to do, which is the best part,” senior Commons editor, junior Elizabeth Mehler said.

Aside from the print issues, there are nine story cycles throughout the school year. Each writer has the freedom of picking whichever topic they want as long as it’s approved. The class structure allows for independent time, which can be used to work on your article, catch up on other school work or interview sources.

Newcomers take one semester of Intro to Journalism before joining newspaper to learn the basics of journalism and strengthen their writing skills. Sophomore Alex Balian is a current staff writer and sports editor next school year. “Newspaper is one of my favorite classes because it gives me the most freedom. I get to choose what I want to write about and also get time to catch up on other work when I don’t need to work on my article,” Balian said.

Seniors Julia Lvovsky, Ethan Lenkin, Rae Weinstein, Mandy Schoen and Danielle Land are the editors-in-chief this year. The editors-in-chief not only run the show, but also design their pages and the website while helping oversee the other editor’s pages. The print EICs split the work of creating the first three pages of the paper: the front cover, table of contents, and letter from the editors. “I’ve really loved working with Julia and Ethan this year. Everyone is super creative and I’m really proud of all of the work we’ve done. My favorite part is seeing the finished product after everyone’s hard work,” Weinstein said.

The Common Sense website is run by the online editor-in-chief Schoen who designs and manages the site and posts every article. “My job is to maintain the website and upload every article that our staff write. I really enjoy being online EIC because I get to see every article before it’s posted and appreciate the wide range of interests that our staff has. The overarching company, School Newspapers Online (SNO), provides features like polls, sports scores and other ways for Danielle and I to creatively design the website,” Schoen said.