NSPA welcomes The Broadview to the Hall of Fame

Since 1987, the National Scholastic Press Association has recognized the outstanding achievement of student publications with the Hall of Fame. Student publications are inducted into the NSPA Hall of Fame if they earn 10 All-American ratings from our publication critique service within an 11-year span. The critique is a comprehensive, written evaluation of a student publication given by professional journalists, experienced media advisers and other professionals who serve on NSPA’s distinguished board of judges.

This spring, NSPA inducted three exceptional student publications into the Hall of Fame:

• The Syracusan (Yearbook), Syracuse (Kansas) High School
• Crag (Yearbook), Turner Ashby High School, Bridgewater, Virginia
• The Broadview (Newspaper), Convent of the Sacred Heart High School, San Francisco

These publications exhibited excellence in a broad range of categories including coverage, writing, design, and more.

 

NSPA contacted Tracy Anne Sena, adviser of Hall of Fame inductee The Broadview newspaper of Convent of the Sacred Heart High School in San Francisco, California, for a Q&A. Sena has advised student publication staffs at Convent of the Sacred Heart High School for 20 years.

 

NSPA: Tell us a little about the journalism program at Convent of the Sacred Heart.

Tracy Anne Sena: Journalism is a GPA-weighted course, available to students in grades 9 through 12. Students specialize in newsprint, online or yearbook, but all students write, design and photograph for all platforms, and they rotate social media posts.

Journalism courses are asynchronous, so it’s possible for fourth-year newspaper editors to have the same class period as first-year yearbook staffers, or to have a combination of levels in the same class period.

All-staff meetings at lunch and during a weekly scheduled period designated for group work — and GoogleDocs — bridge any communication gaps between the editors and staff — and between publications staffs. Editors call meetings and run the actual publications (including the draft and design process), while I teach skills and work with students on near final drafts for print publications. We usually have about 10 to 15 percent of our student body on staff. We’re a small school, so we’re only talking about 20 to 30 students.

 

NSPA: What have you done to ensure the success of the Broadview for so many years?

TS: We concentrate on the ABC’s — being accurate, balanced, and clear. A well-written piece that gets the story right and shows multiple views builds the credibility of a publication with the student readers as well as trust with administrators. For staffs operating in private schools or under Hazelwood and who want to begin to cover more controversial issues, having a foundation of strong reporting can only wonk in the staff’s favor.

We also have a strong focus on ethics, talking about why we decide to report certain stories and how we choose to report them, and we have a lot of “What if? and “What was [insert publication, newsmaker, legislator] thinking?” discussions.

 

NSPA: What have been some challenges you and your staffs have had to overcome throughout the years?

TS: Schedule changes that preclude students from taking journalism during a set “staff period” plagues most schools, but we’ve been successful in offering journalism asynchronously when necessary. Admittedly, it’s not easy to do, but if a student wants to be on staff, we’re going to find a way to make it work for her. Our editors have been awesome in reaching out to keep those staffers in the loop.

 

NSPA: What does being inducted into the NSPA Hall of Fame mean to you and your staffs?

TS: Traditions hold an important role in school life at Convent, and having The Broadview inducted into the Hall of Fame is a public recognition that we have a tradition of strong journalism. This recognition is a point of pride for all of us — and a challenge to continue to look for ways to continue to improve our work.