Students gain valuable life skills as reporters and editors for the Maroon and Gray in Nutley

NUTLEY, NJ — The staff of Nutley High School’s newspaper has been hard at work on its next issue, readying the new edition of the Maroon and Gray to launch on its website soon. The staff, made up of 27 NHS students enrolled in an introductory journalism class and led by district Director of Communications Karen Greco, reports on school, local and national news. 

“We’re reading and writing almost every day,” Greco said in an interview with the Nutley Journal on Nov. 16. “We read news, and I encourage them to watch the evening and morning news. We talk about where to get news. A lot of them get it from Twitter or TikTok, which is a great place to find something to write about, but where is it actually coming from? There’s more out there, but you have to be mindful.” 

Students in any grade can take the class, which is an elective. If they enjoy it and excel in their first year on the newspaper staff, Greco invites them back for another year to be an editor. There are five editors on the staff of the Maroon and Gray this year: Yuna Mehdizadeh and Daniel Doman co-edit the news section; Cynthia DePersio edits the arts and entertainment section; Salvatore Intili heads up the sports section; and Natalie Spina is the editor of the features section. 

“I decided to join journalism because of my love for writing and talking to people,” DePersio said in an email to the Nutley Journal on Nov. 16. “I knew I would get to interview people and learn a lot, not just from the actual class but from the articles I have written over the past two years as well.” 

Before she worked in school communications, Greco worked in publishing for Time and Conde Nast. She’s been in Nutley since 2016 and took over the journalism class a year later, when the Maroon and Gray was relaunched after a hiatus of a few years. 

“I wasn’t a writer or an editor, but I had real-world knowledge,” Greco said. “The teaching has been really rewarding. You see students who are novices write and develop story ideas, opinions, brainstorm topics, edit their peers. It’s great to see when they tell me they’re going to major in journalism in college.” 

For instance, NHS Class of 2021 graduate Jordan Greene is now a freshman at Sacred Heart University; he used his clips from the Maroon and Gray in his portfolio when he was applying to colleges. He’s a journalism major and writes for Sacred Heart’s campus paper, The Spectrum. 

NHS students can choose which sections they want to write for during the year; those who become second-year editors can write opinion pieces. Greco encourages them to try everything but eventually to stick to what they enjoy. Jayson Li, an NHS freshman and first-year journalism student, is a sports writer. His goal is to be a sports broadcaster. 

“My past article was on the NBA’s 75th season and it gave an overall history of basketball and how it’s impacted the sports world for the better,” Li said in an email to the Nutley Journal on Nov. 16. “I chose the sports section because I personally believe that is my strongest section where I produce my best articles. The most surprising part about being on the staff is that my articles would be able to publish on a site being read by a lot of people. That would show me that my hard work and effort paid off and I would be grateful that even only one person read my article.” 

The editors and staff writers generally come up with story ideas and assignments on their own; they decide who will edit which section together. Greco will step in and help if they’re struggling, but for the most part, the Maroon and Gray is made by the students and for the students. 

“They talk among themselves and decide, ‘What can we talk about in school? In the community? At the state and national level?’” Greco said. “It’s an elective, but it’s labor intensive. I want it to be a labor of love.” 

Most interviews are done in person, so students can get the hang of talking to someone and asking follow-up questions. If it’s too difficult to schedule a face-to-face meeting, email interviews can work. Greco also brings in guest speakers to simulate press conferences; teachers from the district and others in the community will come to class, and each student gets a chance to ask a few questions. They then write their own profiles of the speaker. 

“I think it’s an amazing skill to have,” Greco said. “Whether you do work in journalism or you become a doctor, talking to people is an important skill. The more practice you get, the better you are.” 

Li isn’t the only staff member who has been surprised by the number of readers the Maroon and Gray has. Spina, the features editor, is amazed when their work spreads outside the NHS halls to the community at large. 

“The most surprising is hearing how many people care for our news and read our work,” Spina said in an email to the Nutley Journal on Nov. 16. “Every month we put out a new issue that consists of various topics, and each time, more and more people have read it. Our work is being shared among the school community and has inspired me to keep writing in the future.” 

She isn’t the only one. Freshman Olivia Rodriguez said in an email to the Nutley Journal on Nov. 16 that even if she doesn’t become a journalist, the skills she’s learning now will come in handy. For now, she’s having fun with it. 

“One of the best parts is being able to say that you write for the school paper. I don’t know why, but it just feels so professional to tell people, ‘I’m a reporter for the Maroon and Gray and I’d like to ask you about this,’” Rodriguez said. “I also love being able to interview my friends, especially since everyone is so different and it’s a lot of fun to get all of their perspectives instead of viewing events through one set of eyes. I never really anticipated the fact that I’d actually be going around and interviewing real people that I interact with all of the time and then writing for an actual newspaper that was going to be published.” 

The NHS Maroon and Gray can be read online at https://maroonandgray.nutleyschools.org/.

  FEATURED, Nutley High School