DEERFIELD — Deerfield Academy’s student-run newspaper, the Deerfield Scroll, is more than 90 years old, which puts it among the ranks of the nation’s oldest high school newspapers.
The Scroll, which is published monthly online and in print, was founded in 1925 — about 30 years after the first publication of the Easthampton prep school, Williston Academy’s student-run newspaper, The Willistonian. According to the The Willistonian’s website, it’s the oldest continuously running high school newspaper in America, founded in 1881.
The Deerfield Scroll is published on a monthly basis. Each month, Perry Hamm, a senior and the paper’s acting editor in chief, said Deerfield Academy student-editors gather in the newpaper’s basement office space to edit stories and create page layouts.
According to a 90th-anniversary feature dated two years ago, the Scroll originally focused exclusively on sports. Over the years, however, it “evolved into a comprehensive newspaper that facilitated community discussion,” the April 2015 publication relates.
Today, Perry said the Scroll acts as a public forum where students can voice their opinions to the entire student body.
“In years past, it seems that the paper focused a lot on something we often refer to as ‘the Deerfield bubble,’ but I think recently we’ve really tried to expand the horizons a little bit,” Hamm said in an email Tuesday, noting that “It’s always been independent. The administration doesn’t get too involved with it.”
Hamm noted that the paper does have faculty advisors.
Especially in today’s controversial political climate, she continued, the paper is an outlet for students to discuss complex topics with their peers — influenced by editorial stories.
“We feature students, faculty and employees and publish as much as we can about administrative changes, school news,” Hamm said, adding, “but we’re also trying to reach out and bring world issues into the mix.”
To that end, Hamm said students often send letters to the editor expressing their opinions and facilitating discussion.
For the roughly 40 or so students involved in various capacities — from writers to photographers to editors — it’s a chance to hone news writing chops and delve into a more robust educational experience.
“I always loved writing — always been an English kind of kid,” Hamm said, explaining that she started as a staff writer her sophomore year before stepping into an editorial role, becoming chief editor this past semester. Students are hired into roles through an application and interview process.
Looking ahead, Hamm said she’d like to study something related to media or marketing journalism in college, noting about the Scroll, “this is a good primer for something like that.”
Deerfield Academy, which is in Old Deerfield, has more than 600 students and was founded in 1797.