The Echo, our beloved school newspaper, is a place where students from all four grades have the opportunity to collaborate on writing about current news, exciting changes at THS, and any topics of interest. Club members write the articles, but the editors are the backbone of the operation. This year, we welcome four new editors: Junhyoung (Edward) Kim (’24), Liam Tenenbaum (’25), Charley Levine (’25), and Pablo Estua-Carillo (’25).
Meet Edward Kim, a Co-Editor-in-Chief responsible for everything from leading weekly meetings to editing all articles with other editors to ensure that each issue is published on time. A senior at Tenafly High School, he has been a swimmer for ten years, a player on the high school’s golf team, an eager debater, and an avid language learner. So, why join The Echo? Besides currently working with a NYT best-selling author, Kim has been part of The Echo since he was a freshman at THS and has always looked up to past editors and dreamed of becoming one himself. He’s “learned so much from past editors and a part of [him] always wanted to give back what I learned to future journalists.” As an editor, Kim has already contributed to and implemented several great changes: he plans to boost the productivity of the writers by including new staff positions, attendance policies, and story submission policies. Additionally, we were able to help Kim successfully begin the archive initiative, which he hopes to make progress on in this school year before he leaves. So why should people consider joining The Echo? Kim thinks people should join The Echo to not only enhance their writing abilities but also to explore their other interests through journalism. For instance, he “got to learn more about our school’s history through the archive project” that he introduced! The Echo is a great club for students who are interested in exploring their creative writing abilities, improving their writing skills, researching current events at our school and in our world, and joining a community of avid writers eager to share their knowledge and experiences.
Liam Tenenbaum is the other Co-Editor-in-Chief. Working together with Kim, he manages the club, its writers, its story production, and its behind-the-scenes duties. Tenenbaum has been in The Echo for all of his years at high school. He first joined because his brother, Jonathan, was a part of the newspaper and loved it. Despite writing being Tenenbaum’s least favorite subject throughout middle school, he gave it a try and it quickly became one of his favorite subjects. Tenenbaum found a great passion in expressing his ideas through writing and deeply wanted to contribute to The Echo through a leadership position. With this new title, he has had restructuring ideas to promote writing and reward writers who put in lots of time and effort into the club. His goal is to have The Echo consistently send out high-quality stories for readers to enjoy. Tenenbaum appreciates The Echo’s tight-knit community and hopes to preserve this culture for many generations of THS students. He believes more students should join The Echo because it is more enjoyable to write with complete freedom, “outside the boundaries that are in place for school assignments”. Besides editing The Echo, Tenenbaum serves as the Class of 2025 Class President, skis on the Ski team, and runs for the cross country and track teams. For fun, he likes to travel and see the natural beauty of the world. You can especially remark on Tenenbaum’s active participation in the school through his numerous articles on student life.
You might have seen our managing editor playing on the soccer field—meet Charley Levine, a junior who has been enrolled in the journalism course at THS since freshman year. She has “always been an avid writer, someone eager to tell stories and ignite meaningful conversations.” For her, The Echo provided a powerful medium to do exactly this, and she is grateful for the opportunity to voice her opinions on matters she is passionate about. As managing editor, Levine will be tasked with proofreading stories each week, leading club meetings and pitch sessions, and collaborating with the leadership team to enhance the digital paper. Ultimately, she is excited to immerse herself further into journalism and reporting, and this club has become the perfect opportunity for her to explore this new and uncharted love for writing!
With an affinity for both sports and journalism, Pablo Estua-Carrillo is excited to be this year’s Sports Editor. Being the Sports Editor includes the responsibilities of helping edit stories (especially ones relating to sports), assisting in the release of the weekly TWITE, writing and publishing leading sports stories (at least two per quarter), and coordinating with Mr. Whitehead’s Journalism classes for sports news. Estua-Carrillo has been in The Echo since his freshman year. He originally joined the club in order to become more involved in the school, and in the process, he discovered a newfound love for journalism. Estua-Carrillo is glad that being an editor this year gives him a chance to serve as a role model to the up-and-coming writers in the club. He believes other students should join to improve their writing skills, as he did. Estua-Carrillo enjoys collaborating with other writers from different grades, getting to know them while creating stories together. He plans to “create a greater platform for sports-related stories, improving the level of content and accuracy produced in articles” and encourage more members to write about sports-related topics. Apart from sports journalism, Estua-Carrillo is a part of the THS cross country team, winter and spring track and field teams, and Philharmonic Orchestra. He takes both Spanish and French classes at Tenafly High School, and in his free time enjoys spending time with his family and friends.
The editors work together to make the beloved school’s newspaper run smoothly. With four incredibly talented and keen students taking charge of an immense task, The Echo is going to undergo positive changes and remain iconic. If students are thinking of joining the organization, perhaps they will get to know these star writers beyond this article.
