The Spoke, the student-led high school newspaper at Conestoga High School (CHS) has told countless stories on the Tredyffrin Easttown (T/E) community in Berwyn, PA ever since its first journalists brought the paper to life in the 1950s. 75 years later, the paper has evolved to a 12-page spread of blood, sweat and tears from the Spokies (the nickname of Spoke reporters) who have churned out article after article, graphic after graphic and story after story in the four sections of the paper: News, T/E Life, Op-Ed and Sports. The staff scouts out stories to produce monthly issues, totalling seven issues a year.
Our mission is simple: Tell the stories of the community. It’s about time, however, that someone tells the untold story that has been right under our noses: The story about students who make The Spoke.
Co-Copy Editor Miya Cao (second to left) grimaces as she begins to make edits on each page of The Spoke’s fourth issue on Tuesday, Feb. 4. As a Copy Editor, Cao spends hours going through each article of the 12-page spread multiple times for grammatical errors. Spokies sit inside production room 280A, after school on Tuesday, Feb. 11. The production room is a space and home for staff members to conduct interviews, print out articles and pages and discuss ongoing plans for The Spoke.Co-T/E Editor Rowan Chetty (left) and Co-News Editor Lily Chen (right) read the newly released Spoke issue, published on Feb. 19., in the newsroom on Feb. 20. The front page photo was taken by Chetty, who also co-wrote the article, on Friday, Feb. 14 at the Eagles’ Super Bowl Parade in front of Logan Square.The approximately 50 Spokies, the nickname of staff members of The Spoke, begin looking at different Supreme Court cases regarding press, law, and ethics after a presentation on press rights on Friday, Feb. 7. Five years ago, the staff consisted of 20 reporters, until the fall of 2022 when nearly 30 freshmen joined the newspaper, currently forming The Spoke’s largest staff in history.The whiteboard in the production room, room 280A at CHS, is filled with plans for page layouts for The Spoke’s fourth issue of Volume 75. During every copy cycle, it’s a habit of section editors to draw out and brainstorm ways of designing pages of the paper, and prepare for any changes to developing stories.Co-T/E Life Editor Mareska Chettiar (left) and Co-News Editor Lily Chen (right) compress PDF files of their news pages to send to the printer on Monday, Feb. 3 at 6 p.m. at Conestoga High School (CHS.) As section editors, they are in charge of managing their group of reporters and creating page layouts of the newspaper in Adobe InDesign, which includes articles, photos, graphics and advertisements.Co-Copy Editor Miya Cao (left) and Staff Reporter Vanessa Chen (right) watch a presentation in room 268 at CHS on the First Amendment and press rights on Friday, Feb. 7. The presentation goes through significant Supreme Court cases such as Tinker v. Des Moines and present-day organizations fighting for student journalism protection such as New Voices.The trash bin in room 280 of Conestoga High School is filled with empty snack bags, soda cans and plates on Monday, Feb. 3. For every production session, where The Spoke staff stays after school until 6:30 p.m. to edit and finalize the 12-page issue, members contribute food for editors and reporters to snack on.Co-T/E Life Editor Rowan Chetty and News Editors Lily Chen and Faith Zantua (from left to right) look at a previous graphic from The Spoke of CHS’ 2024 Spring Musical, on Tuesday, Feb. 11. They are discussing plans of creating another graphic for the 2025 Spring Musical, “Chicago.”Co-Multimedia Editor Bailey Kreszswick walks from the main lobby to the production room to deliver four pizza boxes for the Spokies on Wednesday, Feb. 5. On most production nights, Business Manager Shrija Krishna orders cheese pizzas from Phil’s Famous Pizza & Steaks to feed the editors staying after school.Co-Managing Editor Raima Saha edits page 10 from the sports section on a podium on Tuesday, Feb. 4. As a senior, Saha juggles many commitments including competing in Squash matches after school.Co-T/E Editor Rowan Chetty takes photos of Eagles fans prior to the Eagles’ Parade in celebration of the football team’s win at the NFL Super Bowl on Feb. 14. at Logan Square. Chetty is bundled up to withstand the cold after having taken the train at 6 a.m. to arrive before the parade starts at 11 a.m., so he can take the front page photo for The Spoke’s fourth issue of the year.
