The 2022-23 School year has been a fun one. COVID sent everyone home to do online learning only two years ago. This changed how the classroom worked. Last year, as schools started reopening, everyone was still trying to find their footing. Many students were still dealing with the fallout from the previous year, with some having failed grades and struggling to catch up. The transition back to in-person learning has been rocky but we’ve made it. More and more people make up classes, Seniors prepare to leave high school and venture into the world, and the rest of us wait for summer.
All this while, the Torch has continued to journal as many events as it could throughout the year. School-related and not, we’ve written stories throughout the school year. Including; current events of the nation, issues everyone faces, new dress codes, metal detectors, and threats closer to home than we thought. We covered spirit weeks, clubs, and events. A wide breadth of celebrity shenanigans and television have been reviewed.
We’ve also formed friendships and created memories that we will cherish for years to come. As most have in our school.
As the year comes to a close, this final newspaper of the year seeks to end with a bang. This story seeks to cover the heart of the paper, the very people behind all the stories. With that, let us meet the Staff:
The most important student in the room is Ali Nguyen, a senior. She is the Editor-in-Chief of the paper, the one in charge. She is the primary motivator and keeps the room going. She has put in hours to the Torch, as well as the Scepter. She plans on going into journalism and business after high school.
Directly under her is Anthony Gonzalez-Medina, a junior, and the Assistant Editor-in-Chief, who will become the proper EIC next year. This journalist is also the Beat Editor of Entertainment, who has kept us updated on many celebrities and the latest releases.
Alongside Anthony GM, Anthony Martinez, a senior sits as the Photo Editor. He has been in charge of the cameras and making sure everything that needs to be photographed gets it. He also acted as Beat Editor for Sports, as shown in his extensive coverage of national and school games, as well as his photography. Martinez says that he “joined newspaper because [his] sister was in yearbook and newspaper with Mr. Welch [the advisor for both classes] and suggested that [he] should join.” His favorite part of the class “this year was having [his] best friend join the class,” which shows the sense of community in the Torch.
Omar Ibarra, a senior, was also an editor. He worked on the South Spotlight beat, which eventually got merged with Student Resources. He focused on South events and celebrity happenings. Despite all of this hard work, Omar didn’t intend on being in the newspaper, “I wasn’t planning on doing it honestly. I listed it as my 8th option and I still got it!” However, he still enjoyed it, writing many stories before he left the school. He says his favorite part was “the podcasts!”
Ollie Cockrum, is a junior at South highschool. They are a writer for the Torch. After deciding to go on to take newspaper in high school, they became the beat editor for South Spotlight because they believe it is important to “…catalog all the things that go on in South.” Ollie loves “to work with other people, other journalists, and random south kids…” doing podcasts and writing stories for the Torch.
Next is Zoe Washington. Washington, a sophomore, has taken the role of Social Media Editor. She is in charge of all of the Torch’s social media, including Instagram and Facebook. She had assumed the role after former SME, Tori Reeves, a senior, left after 1st semester. She says that “ever since middle school, [she’s] wanted to join either photography or a yearbook club … Mr. Welch kinda like dragged me into journalism, but I ended up really liking it.” Her favorite part of the class was “the Fun Fridays. It’s a time we don’t have to do work and we get to hang out with each other”
Dahlia Garcia is an up-and-coming editor and will take the position of Assistant Editor-in-Chief under Anthony GM next year alongside Zoe Washington. She wanted to “originally … join yearbook [but she] kind of got put into [newspaper] and I just really wanted to try something new so I stuck with it and I really like being able to write stories and get my stuff out there.” Out of all the good things in the classroom, she “love[s] the environment … it was very collaborative and everyone always worked together”
Franki Dixon is a remarkable and dedicated junior student who shines as a standout member of the Torch, the school newspaper. She is particularly drawn to covering current events, with a broad range of topics from sports to school events. Franki’s writing prowess is undeniable, having produced more stories than many of her peers. Her dedication to her craft is driven by a strong belief that “everyone should have a voice and [that] it’s important because everyone has a story to tell.” She stays committed more than stores, saying she liked “the podcasts, they were fun.”
With her prolific output and consistently high-quality work, she has established herself as a true asset to the newsroom.
Blanca Perez, a junior, like others, enjoys the photography aspect of the newspaper. She attends many sports events for pictures and she joined “because I really like photography and I really like to write,” She is hopeful for the new year because she joined the newspaper and enjoyed “meeting new people.” Her favorite thing this year was “being friends with everybody. That’s what made my day, that’s why I came a lot.”
Next is Anthony Broadnax, a junior, who is a writer for the Torch and enjoys the stories he gets to write in the newspaper. He likes the activities in class and “the lunch events where we got to eat food together.”
Next up on our roster is Jay Cope, a talented junior journalist who has found his passion in covering sports stories. When asked about his decision to join our class, Jay revealed that he was initially drawn to it after taking our introductory course. His favorite part was “meeting everyone.”
Jayla, Junior and a friendly face in the classroom is a writer for the Torch, focusing on currents event. Jayla states “I did the intro class we took and thought I could do newspaper…” even after wanting to be placed in yearbook, she took a liking to the environment and being able to work together. Jayla describes the classroom as a safe space. “the vibe is pretty good in here, it’s not like everyone has beef with someone we all just goof around.”
Now, onto sophomores. Dayshawn Buchanan joined the class because of the teacher, Mr. Welch, who is “one of [his] favorite teachers.” The best part of the class, besides Mr. Welch, was “making stories, because [he] love[s] making stories”
Saige Russell, a sophomore. Saige wrote extensively on current social issues, such as abortion in Kansas. He also wrote on domestic issues, such as carving pumpkins and Christmas movies. He joined “because [he] liked the intro class and … the idea of writing stories … sounded super fun.” Saige will be joining again next year as “[he] like[s Mr. Welch] and [he] like[s] writing about anything [he] want[s]”
Cruz Perez, a sophomore, focuses on entertainment and celebrity events. He joined because he “wanted to try something different.” As part of newspaper, he likes the fact that “[he] was able to work at [his] own pace”
Selena Chanminaraj, another sophomore, focused on mental health this year. She covered topics from strict parenting to toxic relationships. She used the newspaper as a way to grow “to get the experience of writing for the first time,” and boy did she get it. Her favorite part of the year was the community the newspaper had, and “getting close to the people in class”
Similar is Kasey Newell, another sophomore. Kasey wrote much on various world events, from earthquakes to Theorosa’s Bridge. He said he joined newspaper because “[he] wanted something else to do, it sounded fun.” As many have, Kasey found “all the friends [he] made,” and believed the class to be fun.
Lastly is Rogelio Mata, our final sophomore. Rogelio tended to focus on soccer this year. He joined the newspaper “because [he] thought it was going to be fun and it is.”
