In the last few weeks of the 2024-2025 school year, Mr. Whitehead, advisor of The Echo, appointed six new editors to lead the school newspaper, which has been published in Tenafly since 1896. The new team includes Orli Rosenstein (’26) and Calvin Du (’26) as Co-Editors-in-Chief, Ella Plotkin (’27) as Managing Editor, JaeHa (Justin) Kim (’26) as Assistant Editor, and Soeun Lee (’27) and Jehee Nam (’27) as Copy Editors. These juniors and seniors have worked hard to earn their new roles in The Echo, gaining their titles through excellence in writing and proofreading, strong leadership skills, and dedication to the newspaper club.
Taking on these demanding roles comes with huge amounts of pressure, and new editors began preparing to take over the paper last spring, learning from the outgoing editors, all of whom graduated in May.
“We started editing stories at the end of last year to get practice,” Rosenstein said. “It was definitely a little stressful at first, but I think that being able to practice last year has helped us learn how to manage the workload and edit articles every Thursday.”
These four vital roles in The Echo work hand in hand. Each position builds off of one another, all contributing to ensure that stories are produced accurately and efficiently. Rosenstein and Du, as the leaders of the newspaper, are required to publish at least two stories per quarter, preferably opinion pieces. The second-highest position is the Managing Editor. In that role, Plotkin assists the Co-Editors-in-Chief and takes on many different responsibilities, including working on the Echo’s web site layout, managing polls, polishing up the site’s design, and operating the paper’s social media account. Taking on the third-highest role—Assistant Editor—is Kim. As the Assistant Editor, Kim edits and proofreads stories meticulously, making sure that students’ writing adheres to Echo style. Finally, Jehee Nam and Soeun Lee, as Copy Editors, make sure that stories are error-free before they are published on The Echo.
Taking on these roles requires a lot of hard work and dedication. Just being a member of The Echo and writing an article occasionally will not guarantee students a place in one of these roles. For Mr. Whitehead, to be able to trust students in their ability to successfully edit article after article every week means that students must demonstrate that they have what it takes to be an editor of a newspaper.
“I’ve been writing for The Echo since sophomore year and have published over 25 stories,” Rosenstein said. “I do writing outside of school for different blogs. I also do work for MTV, and do a lot of work with communications to show my skills.”
These new editors, who exemplify the results of hard work and perseverance, encourage students to join the club and write for the paper. Students can do so by emailing any of the editors or by coming to Room 222, The Echo newsroom, during the second half of lunch on E Days.
