It is a Choate tradition for students to be involved in affairs beyond this school community. Many students identify the act of serving others as an essential part of their lives, volunteering locally or overseas during school breaks. Student-led initiatives such as Diversity Day educate our community on important national and global issues, broadening our horizons. Choate instills in its graduates an awareness of and an obligation to both citizenry and cosmopolitanism, evident in the works of many alumni, such as Kristen Clarke ’93, the 2017 Alumni Award recipient who leads the National Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, one of the most powerful national civil rights organizations.
However, though many students at Choate are sensitive to national and global issues, we frequently talk about current events as news to lament, a feeling that often results in half-hearted “clicktivism,” a portmanteau of click and activism, which is common to Facebook and other social-media sites. Sharing a message of seeming importance, while better than complete apathy, too often accomplishes very little, save for the fact that clickers feel good about “doing their part.” Such action allows us to essentially dismiss the events in our immediate spheres. We become oblivious to actions we can take today to bring palpable, meaningful reforms — a start to a would-be revolution.
Let’s move beyond the clicks. Fighting tough problems — dedicated involvement that comes from awareness — happens beyond a digital screen, through real work in our own backyards. Posts on Facebook, Twitter, and other forms of technology can serve as catalysts, for sure, but physical commitment is fundamental to finding lasting solutions.
With this in mind, The Choate News is launching a new section: Local News (see Page 3), which will publish articles about news happening beyond the borders of our campus — for instance, Wallingford elections, the town’s schools, and its small businesses. We hope that Local News will inspire Choate students to be more engaged in the town and begin to be the changes, both big and small, that they aspire to be. Today in America, perhaps more than ever, we need to try to understand a neighbors a bit better. We need to remind each other that an optimistic outlook coupled with initiative and active engagement can result in meaningful change. We are confident that Local News can provide this civic function.
For much of this newspaper’s history, with the exception of the Opinions Nation/World section, the publication has been confined to the Choate campus, with almost all of our news and opinions articles looking at events happening within the invisible boundary that separates our students from the outside world. Local News will break that tradition. It will also be a new, real-world opportunity for students who are interested in work that more closely resembles professional journalism.
We look forward to collaborating with local agencies and institutions. (Just this Wednesday, our incoming Managing Editor, Vincenzo DiNatale ’19, attended a meeting with Head of School Dr. Alex Curtis and Wallingford Mayor William Dickinson.) By working with those who live and work in the town we hope to learn from them as journalists and as students — and strengthen the bond that connects the School to the rest of Wallingford.
The creation of Local News is our attempt today to get rid of a detrimental, if somewhat innocent, myopia. What comes tomorrow depends, in part, on you, collectively the true owner of this paper, to contribute, read, and respond. We are thrilled to be able to serve you.
A special thank you to those who played a role in the creation of Local News: our advisers, Mr. Mike Peed and Ms. Cathryn Stout, who worked to refine our ideas and support our initiative; Ms. Alison Cady and Mr. James Stanley, who gave us invaluable suggestions; and the editors on the Local News Planning Committee — Kristen Altman ’18, Grayce Gibbs ’18, Neve Scott ’18, Helena Yang ’18, and Alex Yoon ’19 — who helped draft a proposal and create the layout for Local News.
—Haley Chang ’18
Editor-in-Chief
of the 111th Masthead
