The Columbian, Columbia High School’s award-winning school newspaper, was recently recognized by the American Scholastic Press Association with a second place award.
The nationwide competition judged school newspapers based on content coverage, page design, art/illustrations, editing, and creativity.
Casey Slavin, one of the Editors-in-Chief, remarked, “We are definitely proud of this accomplishment. It validates all of the hard work we put in to bring the print version of the paper back to life.”
From 2015 through 2020, The Columbian earned the first place award in the annual competition held by the American Scholastic Press Association for six years in a row. The spate of wins was interrupted by the pandemic and The Columbian has been rebuilding in recent years.
The editorial staff (left to right) Annabelle Mecca, Anya Terry, Georgie Gassaro, Casey Slavin, Jared Garelick, Natalie Urusov, Jordan Klein, Maddie Fleisch
The Columbian was at the center of controversy recently, when former advisor Joshua Enyeart, who has taught Journalism at CHS for 15 years, alerted the community that the course was being diminished to a half-year course for the 2022-23 school year and that it would not count toward necessary English language arts credits for graduation. CHS is the only high school in New Jersey that has been offering Journalism as a full-credit, full-year course. Both Enyeart and current Columbian advisor and ELA teacher Joseph Lombardo have tied the full-year, full-credit course to the success of The Columbian, which gleans much of its staff from the course’s students.
After community outcry — including from current and former student staffers — the South Orange-Maplewood School District restored the course as full-year course. Assistant Supt. of Curriculum & Instruction Ann Bodnar is currently working toward restoring the course for graduation credit.
Village Green will continue to follow this story.
Read more here:
- Columbia High’s School Newspaper Wins 1st Place for 6th Year in a Row, September 25, 2020
- ‘Do The Right Thing’: CHS Students, Alumni Urge District to Keep Journalism a For-Credit Course, May 7, 2023
- CHS Journalism Teacher Glad to Be Reinstated — But ‘Beyond Frustrated’ Course Remains an Elective, April 27, 2023
- CHS Students, Alumni Petition to Save Full-Year Journalism Course, April 17, 2023
- CHS Grad & Bloomberg Reporter Speaks Out About Slashed Journalism Class, April 4, 2023
- Decision to Slash Journalism Course at CHS Met With Outrage From Teachers, April 3, 2023
