Environmental activist. CEO. Journalist. These are just a sample of the professions occupied by former Editors-in-Chief of The Choate News. They have continued the tenets of analytical thinking and professionalism shaped by their time at Choate — though not always in journalism.
Mr. John Dos Passos ’11 was an Editor-in-Chief of The News at The Choate School in 1911. He used his position to start the New Fiction Supplement, a literary publication.
During Mr. Jim Altschul’s ’78 time at Choate, the position of Editor-in-Chief did not exist. Instead, when Mr. Altschul was a senior, he was “President” of the newspaper, then called The News (the newspaper’s name was changed in 2015). He described, “Being the President of The News was one of my most important experiences, both in my time at Choate and afterwards. It was my first management experience, and it also gave me an opportunity to be innovative and creative.”
Mr. Altschul currently owns Aviation Advisor Service, a New York-based company focusing on the development of aviation real estate. Despite the differences between his current profession and his former position on The News, Mr. Altschul cited the common ground between both endeavors. Mr. Altschul recalled, “When I first got into professional management, I could look back on some of my experiences as a manager and learn from the tactics I had already put in place when I was leading The News.”
Mr. Chip Lebovitz ’10, Editor-in-Chief during the 2009-2010 school year, expressed similar sentiments. “The way I ended up working in my current role was my interest in journalism,” explained Mr. Lebovitz, who is an associate at FS Investments, a business development company based in Philadelphia.
After his time at Choate, Mr. Lebovitz attended Brown University, where he wrote for The Brown Daily Herald and majored in economics. He explained, “At Brown, I was interested in economics and journalism, so I did an internship for Fortune over the summer. That experience convinced me that I wanted to pursue a career in business.”
Mr. Jim Altschul ’78 recalls his time as President of The News as “one of my most important experiences, both in my time at Choate and afterwards.”
Although Mr. John Dos Passos ’11 was also an Editor-in-Chief, his career with The News occurred much earlier — graduating from The Choate School in 1911. Deeply interested in stories and short fiction, Mr. Dos Passos used his position on The News to negotiate for a new literary publication on Choate campus, the New Fiction Supplement, where he published his first short story, “The City of Burnished Copper.”
Mr. Dos Passos continued to develop an interest in creative writing while at Harvard University, by writing stories in the Harvard Monthly. A published author and political activist, Mr. Dos Passos is best known for the U.S.A. trilogy, which explores the American political consciousness during the twentieth century. In addition to receiving the Alumni Seal Prize in 1965, Mr. Dos Passos also has a literary prize dedicated to his name — the John Dos Passos Prize awarded by Longwood University, which celebrates experimental literary works depicting the American experience.
Ms. Courtney Pal ’14 described her role as Editor-in-Chief as foundational. A junior at Stanford University, Ms. Pal related many of the skills from The News to her current studies in Human Environmental Systems and Comparative Studies in Race and Ethnicity. “I think that being on The News has prepared me for a lot of the advocacy work that I do now,” explained Ms. Pal, who works for environmental justice at Stanford and throughout the Bay Area, which faces a housing crisis.
Ms. Robin Sparkman ’87 served as a reporter for Newsweek and an editor for MSNBC.com after her time as Editor-in-Chief of The News.
She continued, “I learned how to present my story more effectively to reporters. It’s made me more engaged and aware of the power of the media because I understand how the media cycle works.”
Looking forward, Ms. Pal commented, “My hope one day in the future is to do public interest work, specifically in regards to environmental justice, but that’s very far down the road.”
Drawing from advocacy and storytelling, Ms. Robin Sparkman ’87 was also inspired by her time as Editor-in-Chief. After her time on The News, Ms. Sparkman served as a reporter for Newsweek, an editor for MSNBC.com, and Editor-in-Chief of The American Lawyer. Currently, Ms. Sparkman is the inaugural C.E.O. of StoryCorps, a nonprofit storytelling initiative supported by NPR.
She explained, “At The News, it was all about how you worked with a bureaucracy and how you motivated the people who were working for you. That still applies in my job at StoryCorps. Navigating so many different interests requires courage and humility.”
Ms. Courtney Pal ’14 is now studying Human Environmental System and Comparative Studies in Race and Ethnicity at Stanford University.
At StoryCorps, Ms. Sparkman works to collect and share oral stories submitted by willing participants. Conversations between two interested parties are recorded in one of StoryCorps’s story-booths, collected by the organization, and stored at the Library of Congress. Since its launch in 2003, StoryCorps has done over 72,000 recordings. It has also turned about three dozen of the recordings into animations, in addition to publishing five books of edited and archived conversations.
The stories shared are sometimes organized thematically, such as with the September 11th Initiative, which is dedicated to honoring each life lost during the attacks, and the Justice Project, which seeks to share the experiences of people directly affected by mass incarceration.
Mr. Tom Kaplan ’06 is now a reporter for The New York Times, formerly a writer for The Yale Daily News. He related his time as Editor-in-Chief of The News to his current career in journalism, explaining, “I was lucky to learn from Mr. Zachary Goodyear, both in his classes and when he was the adviser to The News. It was a really formative experience and made me want to keep pursing journalism as a career.”
Mr. Chip Lebovitz ’10 is now an associate at FS Investments, a business development company based in Philadelphia.
Mr. Kaplan elaborated on the transition between writing for The News and working for a professional newspaper. “I remember writing stories about the administration that Headmaster Shanahan might not have been too pleased about, and it’s the same idea when you report on politicians and cover their administration,” Mr. Kaplan said. In both, writers are often “trying to write what people in positions of power are doing and letting the community be informed.”
Mr. Kaplan continued, “That’s at the center of people trying to cover politics and government: to cut through the noise and help people understand what their elected leaders are saying and doing, and also hold those leaders to account when their words are not tethered to fact.” At The Times, Mr. Kaplan covers current events with a focus on politics and has recently done pieces on the fate of the Affordable Care Act and President Trump’s cabinet appointments.
Although the former Editors-in-Chief of The Choate News engage in separate careers and interests, they are all unified by their time at Choate. Mr. Kaplan, emphasizing the impact of his Choate experience, stated, “Students at Choate are lucky to have a high school paper that, in many ways, resembles what
Mr. Thomas Kaplan ’06 is now a reporter for The New York Times. He recalls his time as Editor-in-Chief of The News as “a really formative experience.”
you might find on a college campus. It’s a great way to get an early education in journalism and to learn what it’s like as a reporter.”
