Every high school has a school paper or magazine, but few are as impressive as Upper Arlington High School’s Arlingtonian. For more than 80 years, the student-led publication has made waves throughout the student body and across the state.
The Arlingtonian was awarded first place by the Ohio Scholastic Media Association for two titles: Overall News Magazine and Overall Online News Site during the 2018-2019 school year. In addition, eight of its student writers were recognized in a variety of categories, some recognized for multiple awards, for a total of 18 awards.
Current editor-in-chief and senior at UAHS Josie Stewart remembers the first time she saw her older sisters bring home a copy of the Arlingtonian.
“I remember coming home from school one day and seeing (the Arlingtonian) and thinking ‘Oh my gosh, I want my name in that,’” she says.
Getting a jump start on the prerequisite courses as a freshman, she became an early member of the student staff as a sophomore. This year, she will serve as editor-in-chief.
“I’m the leader,” she says. “It’s a student-led class. We have an advisor in the room, but for the most part it’s up to us.”
There are approximately 20 students on staff, covering every role necessary to create and publish a news magazine. From photographers and graphic artists to a business manager and the editors to, of course, the writers, the Arlingtonian staff has it all.
All of the articles are written by Arlingtonian staff, with the occasional guest column and letter to the editor. Even more impressive is the freedom the publication has – neither the advisor nor school board can intervene with the publication, so it’s a true and honest reflection of the student body and editorial staff. The students work tirelessly to create their publication during the school day and are fighting to elevate the class to receive honors credit for their work.
“A lot of people think we’re a club,” says Stewart. “Of course, we work outside of class, too.”
The Works
The student publication is printed and distributed on a quarterly basis, and is hand delivered to classrooms while the morning announcements are broadcast. Of course, the articles don’t just stop between the print productions. Staff constantly produces digital content for the Arlingtonian, too.
“We’re trying to move online, just like most people are,” Stewart says. “Every time we’re not working on an issue, we have online rotations. The website is updated weekly.”
But what all goes into a student-produced news magazine? Well, it’s a lot of what you see in Tri-Village Magazine!
“We always have the generic sections like feature, news, spotlight and op-ed, and we also try to do one or two investigative stories,” Stewart says. “We always make sure that they’re tied to the student body. Our goal is to do things other people can’t do, so (the articles) are all related to UA or UAHS.”
The Arlingtonian is free to readers and is funded by donations and advertisements.
The readership of Arlingtonian is certainly not the population you might expect to see reading a news magazine, but despite their age, the UAHS students enjoy reading.
“Students generally respond enthusiastically to Arlingtonian. Whenever a new issue comes out, you can see students reading and talking about it in classrooms, the cafeteria and elsewhere,” says Ben Underwood, copy editor for Arlingtonian and UAHS senior. “I heard a lot of conversations throughout the school about the school dress code after an article was published about it.”
Even amid the age of technology, the print publication does just as well as (if not better than) their online content.
“I think it’s kind of ironic that we like the print issues more in the high school,” says Stewart. “That’s the way to get people to actually read it – like when you put it in their hand, they’re going to read it, but it’s kind of harder to get people to go to your website. It’s kind of backward!”
At the end of the day, this student publication is a labor of love for the students and the staff.
“I love writing, learning new perspectives, the visual design aspect and the people,” says Callia Peterson, co-digital editor for Arlingtonian and current UAHS junior. “Choosing to pursue student journalism is the best decision I have made in high school.”
Sarah Robinson is a contributing editor. Feedback welcome at feedback@cityscenemediagroup.com.
