by Henry Shapard ’16, Editor-in-Chief
When Newton Mitchell Anderson, the first headmaster of University School, established in 1890 the institution in which we study today, came up with the idea for a boys’ day school in what is now downtown Cleveland, he had a distinct vision: to create an academically vigorous, athletically demanding, and artistically stimulating environment where young men could spend their formative years. His ideas were so novel and his first students so strong that after the first full school year, parents began enrolling their sons ten years before they expected them to attend. In the following 125 years, the school has twice moved campuses; thousands of students and faculty have come through its doors. Its philosophy, however, has remained constant: University School is not a place where boys go, in the words of our new headmaster, Mr. Rein, to become idiots.
In acknowledgement of the vibrant culture of University School and of the school’s 125th anniversary year, the US News Online will be operating differently from how it has in recent memory. Indeed, if there is one sentence to describe the 2015-2016 model of a student paper that has been in existence since 1898, it would be this: US News Online will be a publication by students, of students, and for students. Every single article, photograph, and interview that appears on the website will have a strong connection to the school community. In addition, the newspaper staff will be organized in such a way that any student interested in writing at any time of the year will have the opportunity to do so. The flexibility of an online platform—an advantage that writers at the US News did not have at their disposal for 104 years—means that writers will not be restricted to specific deadlines. For the first time, news from within the school community will be presented as it happens. A new partnership with USPN (the University School Sports Network) will give the paper an enhanced multimedia presence.
The 125th anniversary year of University School will be a special one; likewise, year 117—a much more awkward number—of the US News will mark a new step forward in the paper’s history. Please join us in our discussion, celebration, and—if necessary—criticism of all things University School.
