History

The Talawanda Tribune got its start in 2006 when English teachers Amy Young and Kalinde Webb organized a group of interested students and formed a club. The following year, through a series of grants and community donations, the Tribune had a few computers, a design program, and a belief — that news writing is an important part of a high school and the community in which it exists.

Soon, the school made room for a News Writing class that would teach students how to write, read, and think about current events around the THS and the world.

Over the years that followed The Tribune went through many changes, both in appearance and in style, ultimately sticking with a tabloid-sized paper that varied between 8 and 16 pages per issue.  THS English and Creative Writing teacher Matt Aerni taught News Writing and advised The Tribune and brought the course and publication into the digital age.

The Tribune website was launched on Thursday, April 5, 2012.  The Tribune also added Twitter and Instagram.

In 2016 News Writing was reworked into a course called Journalism taught by English teacher Amanda Weatherwax.  The new course focuses on changes in how we consume and produce news in a rapidly changing digital world while staying true to Young and Webb’s vision of providing students an opportunity to tell the stories that are important to the Talawanda community.   In 2018 The Tribune, advised by Weatherwax, published its first edition of a print magazine called “Changing Perspectives.”