A Letter From the Editor: The Return of the Campus Lantern

Craving authentic coverage of events and activities around campus by students, for students? The Campus Lantern returns! The revived student publication's editor-in-chief Griffy Whitman '25 pens a letter in the inaugural issue, which will arrive in student and faculty email inboxes tomorrow. The newspaper is overseen by Upper School English teacher Jenny Gellhorn (pictured here with Griffy Whitman). We're giving you a sneak peek of the letter from the editor in anticipation of this exciting drop. Expect roughly an issue a month, including several print issues! 

(Update: Here is the link to the newspaper, which dropped on October 27!) 

A letter from the editor: The return of The Campus Lantern
Illuminating the past, present, and future. 

Dear SCH, 

Welcome to the inaugural edition of The Campus Lantern! 

We are the voice of Upper School students. We are writers, reporters, designers, artists, athletes, actors, thinkers, innovators, creators, chance-takers, and change makers. 

Dr. Dinkins told me last fall that our strong student body needed to be heard. Now, for the first time since 2016, The Campus Lantern student newspaper returns to do exactly that. 

There are two sides to The Campus Lantern, both working towards the same goal. 

The first is the journalism elective, revised this year so that everyone enrolled in the class is a contributing writer. In the elective, we are a group of engaged learners who practice journalism by experience every day. Looking at a preview of our website gave Ha'oa Bode, staff writer/member of the journalism elective and co-student body president, “butterflies in [his] stomach.” Ha’oa said, “It was exciting to see that my piece of work would be noticed when people click the link.” 

The second side, The Campus Lantern activity, is a high-impact co-curricular that meets every other Tuesday, with an opportunity for everyone. It doesn’t matter if you don’t even consider yourself a writer. We are so much more. We are a place to express your passions and discover new ones. Ninth grader Sky Matta joined the activity in part because of “Gilmore Girls,” but also because already, we “seemed like a really close, tight community that [she] thought would be cool.”  

In this robust first edition, you’ll see work from both groups, on topics ranging from new facilities to concerts, to profiles, all the way to a true firestarting exposé. 

The support and encouragement that helped get The Campus Lantern off the ground came from all facets of the SCH community.

The study of journalism through the English department wouldn’t exist without Mr. Bell, a broadcast journalism major in college who introduced the elective to our school.

Dr. Dinkins shared my vision, and from him, I learned that a successful student periodical is an enterprise. 

From there I took my idea to the CEL capstone program, where Mr. Glassman and Mr. Kreher helped me through a semester of planning to get to where we are today. 

But there is no revival of The Campus Lantern without Ms. Gellhorn. Last fall when I was tentatively mentioning that I wanted to start a school newspaper to people, someone suggested that I go to Ms. Gellhorn. From then on, she has been a champion of the endeavor. She designed and teaches the new journalism class, formulated our website, and brings out the best in every contributor. She’s our faculty advisor and has become a mentor to me. 

My English teacher, Ms. Waleson, a former faculty advisor to the Springside School’s student publication, said that she is “delighted that because of [the] initiative, and the rebirth of the journalism class, there is enough momentum to get this going!” 

It is you, though, who will make The Campus Lantern special. By reading our first edition, you are joining in the revival of the student newspaper at SCH. Thank you all. 

Sincerely, 

Griffy Whitman '25
Inaugural Editor-in-Chief