With an enthusiastic team of experienced leaders and new but motivated staff members, The Pearl Post is ready to streamline our communication and produce phenomenal content this year.

With our editors and staff writers split into two separate periods, our goal of increased communication is not only useful but imperative. Due to Daniel Pearl Magnet High School’s (DPMHS) switch to a 4×4 schedule last year, most of our editors are in first period, while most of our writers are in fourth period. 

In order to maintain contact and productive collaboration, we will be using the app Slack more than in previous years. This will allow us to quickly message each other and stay updated. We will also continue to use the app Trello to keep track of articles in the various stages of the editing process.

Another challenge we are facing is, since much of last year’s staff has graduated, many of our editors are new to staff. To overcome any possible difficulties this might cause, we are extensively reviewing journalistic knowledge and leading training sessions on everything from photography to AP style.

Last year, The Pearl Post staff produced at least three online articles per week. As our second year of in-person learning begins, we are going to incorporate more insightful video interviews into our content in hopes of reaching a wider audience. We also desire to make the most of the SLR cameras accessible to us to continue capturing photos that represent the intricacies of student life at DPMHS. 

Our focus on multimedia will extend to our Room 22 Podcast, which is continuing for its second season. The podcast will provide yet another way for the DPMHS community to receive pertinent news about our school that includes the viewpoints of both students and staff. This comprehensive mix of articles, photography, videos and audio content will create more opportunities for the voices of classmates and staff members to be amplified. 

After publishing four strong issues of our print newsmagazine last year, we hope to continue our success and publish at least four issues this year. In these issues, we plan to increase our use of creative visuals, such as artwork, photo stories and cartoons. In conjunction with our focus on communication, we will ensure that every page goes through a comprehensive copy editing process and is double-checked by multiple editors. 

Last year, we were named finalists in five categories of the Los Angeles Press Club Southern California Journalism Awards. We were also named finalists for the prestigious Online Pacemaker Award, granted by the National Scholastic Press Association. We will diligently strive to continue our momentum this year.

The Pearl Post, along with Prestige Yearbook and Pearl Net News, received the First Amendment Press Freedom Award from the Journalism Education Association last year. Our publication will continue to exercise our First Amendment rights this year.

As a student media team, we are committed to providing our school community with credible and timely information. We take this responsibility seriously and are confident that we can meet our goals.