The online student newspaper of Vandegrift High School

Vandegrift Voice

The online student newspaper of Vandegrift High School

Vandegrift Voice

The online student newspaper of Vandegrift High School

Vandegrift Voice

About

Mission:

The Vandegrift Voice was created to provide just that – a voice for our student body. The Voice is an open forum for student expression and ideas. We welcome – in fact, we encourage – letters to the editor and guest opinion articles from students, parents, faculty and administration.

As a staff, we stand behind the First Amendment rights of all citizens, including high school students. We agree with the New York Times organization: “Social responsibility is at the root of every facet our organization. It is most evident in our dedication to the highest standards of quality journalism.” We act ethically and responsibly, but we also don’t shy away from covering issues that may be sensitive, controversial or unpopular.

The Voice staff, yearbook staff, and the photojournalism program provide the material for the website, and www.vandegriftvoice.com is an ongoing collaborative project by the students for the students. We seek to constantly update The Voice with information and articles that we feel are of interest to our audience. The website functions as both a service to the public as well as an educational tool for the staff.

As journalism students, we believe that “democracy . . . demands that we find a place and make time in the school curriculum and budget for real education about the real challenges of living in a diverse and free society. It demands community and government environments where a commitment to free expression and religious liberty is valued. It demands that we sometimes celebrate a disorderly ‘marketplace of ideas’ — in town meetings as well as school classrooms” (Gene Policinski, First Amendment Center Vice President/Executive Director).

Vandegrift High School is not a prior-review school, and all content in the paper is decided on by The Voice staff, under the guidance of a faculty adviser. Opinions expressed in The Voice are not necessarily the opinions of the district, administration, staff or student body.

All letters to the editor must be signed.

In accordance with free speech rulings, The Voice does not print unprotected speech, including but not limited to libelous material, material that is obscene to minors, material that would cause a substantial disruption to the school day, and material that constitutes an invasion of privacy.

Contact us: If you would like to contact the Voice newspaper staff please email Jessica Stamp, adviser, at [email protected].

Awards, Honors, & Accolades:

CSPA Crown Award 2022-2023

ILPC Award of Honor 2022-2023

CSPA Silver Crown Award 2021-2022

ILPC Bronze Star 2021 – 2022

ILPC Award of Distinguished Merit 2020 – 2021

ILPC Bronze Star 2019 – 2020

ILPC Award of Distinguished Merit 2019 – 2020

SNO Distinguished Site 2020

ILPC Bronze Star 2018 – 2019

ILPC Award of Distinguished Merit 2018 – 2019

 

Individual Staff Awards

2023-2024 VOICE STAFF. Renee Crotty, Aisha Rashid, Julia Bychowski, Katherine Dale, Marley Page, Lourdes Hernandez Peraza, Rylie Lockerman, Mary Bahrami, Swetha Sathish, Seiya Mutreja (Jessica Stamp)
2022-2023 VOICE STAFF. Rylie Lockerman, Aisha Rashid, Shivaali Vibarajan, Sarah McKelvy, Isabel Young, Yness Martinez, Abigail Lincks, Julia Bychowski, Katherine Dale, Seiya Mutreja, Bailey Niles

 

Bailey Niles, Kate Denning, Isabel Young, and Abigail Lincks hold their Silver Crown award for the 2021-2022 Voice student digital news site at Columbia University in New York City over Spring Break in March 2023.

 

The 2021-2022 editors of the Vandegrift Voice junior Isabel Young and senior Kate Denning hold their ILPC awards for the 2021-2022 school year. The staff earned a bronze star for being in the top 10 in Texas and an Award of Distinguished Merit which is the highest distinction awarded in the state. They also won a CSPA Crown award collected in March of 2023 in New York City at Columbia University.

 

The 2021-2022 award-winning Voice staff includes juniors Arabella Villarroel, Abigail Lincks, Yness Martinez, Isabel Young, seniors Kate Denning, Taylor Chronert, junior Dayna Ung, senior Karissa Gonzales, sophomore Seiya Mutreja, junior Natalie Weber, sophomore Gabriela Sevieri, senior Nicholas Scoggins, and not pictured seniors Daniel Farrow and Claire Janson.