By Jarret Liotta

WESTPORT — What an incredible honor it was for me to visit with the advanced journalism classes at Staples High School on Friday afternoon.

I was not only seriously taken aback — more honestly, floored — by the level of authentic interest and intelligent inquiry expressed by the students in person, I’m standing somewhat awed by the risks, quality & content of the work they’re producing through Inklings — the student-run monthly news magazine and its sister website.

(NOTE: The Inklings magazine contains items not featured on this INKLINGS WEBSITE … so to get a paid subscription to the monthly version, CLICK HERE.)

Eye-Opening Content

While I’ve read Inklings when it’s been convenient — was even published in it as a young pup at Staples decades ago — my visit prompted me to take a closer look at the content on the website and in the November issue.

It’s considerable.

I was thrilled and amazed to not only see several interesting pieces — one of which we’re already using to launch a follow-up feature here at Westport Journal — but some extremely eye-opening editorial articles that should be read by every resident in town.

“Cheerleader or Housewife?”

One bravely outspoken member of the SHS cheerleading squad wrote a brilliant piece calling into question some long-standing but — in my opinion — rather degrading practices that have the cheerleaders assigned to senior football players so they can decorate their lockers, make them posters and — as the writer so acutely states — act like “unappreciated 1950’s housewives.”

While the practice of the cheerleaders literally baking sweets for the football players was discontinued in 2009 — following a minor local controversy, if memory serves — what the writer describes as a “sexist, outdated and degrading” tradition continues because — according to other cheerleaders and football players — “it’s passed off as just ‘something we’ve always done.’”

Ugh!

This was news to me.

Student Mental Health

Another impressive piece spoke to the school district’s failures in implementing so-called Wellness Activity Days, which are aimed at promoting mental health.

Unfortunately, the writer noted, the inaugural event on Oct. 20 was clouded by senior students being excused from participation so they could allegedly do prep work for the Homecoming dance, which was still three days off.

“They were more likely just preparing a Starbucks order for pick-up,” the writer noted.

Further, they pointed out that the district is only providing a “watered down version” of mental health days that have already been sanctioned through a new state bill in Connecticut. Instead, the writer urges ownership be put in the hands of students rather than seemingly token (and ineffectual) events such as was organized.

Survey

The details of that aside, in a separate Inklings article a writer speaks to increasing mental-health concerns post pandemic.

According to an Inklings survey of 197 students, 68.4% of them said they have experienced more mental health issues as a result of the pandemic, while 57.2% said they are not confident in their own ability to cope with mental health-related struggles.

Asked if Staples offered “adequate resources for students and staff to seek help with mental health,” only 54.5% of those asked said Yes.

There were other articles worth pointing out too — a strong piece on end-of-quarter grading practices, opposing pieces on an open-campus policy, and a metaphoric piece relating to a haircut, among them — but I strongly encourage people to subscribe to Inklings and actively read it for themselves.

A Valuable Community (and BOE) Resource

As a professional journalist who has covered Westport — and other local school boards — for many years, if there’s one thing I know, it’s that by-and-large the public has no frickin’ idea what’s going on in those eight school buildings.

Toward that end, the insights gained through the work of these high school students is remarkable and considerable for the community as a whole.

For various reasons, these and other student-generated insights shed important light on issues that should routinely be put at the forefront of administrative concerns.

I would hope that rather than circling their wagons in fear whenever issues of concern are brought to light by these students — or anyone, for that matter — school officials are mature, comfortable and conscious enough to view & embrace them as utterly valuable resources to help guide practice and policy.

Thick Skin & Monumental Impact

Getting back to my visit to Inklings, I was struck by a wide range of great questions posed to me, but two in particular really stole my heart …

Question 1) How do you deal with people’s anger and hostility after you write something they don’t like?

It’s never easy … It’s not fun being personally and publicly criticized for writing what you truly believe is important to share, is important for your community to know …

Yet if you feel in your soul that you have to share a thought, an idea or an opinion, sometimes you just have to stick your neck out and risk the drop.

What helps, however, is being part of a group — a group or organization that supports your right to speak up — so that you’re not alone at risk, so that you’re not separated from the herd and hunted down, as the critics would have you be …

Question 2) Does the stuff that we’re doing make any difference?

Shit, yeah!!

And keep it up!!

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