During the 2025-2026 school year, Kathleen MacDonald High has had many firsts that will go down in school history. One of these firsts is the existence of our very own journalism class. Throughout this school year, our journalists have put in countless amounts of effort towards getting us to where we are today.
Some of the most notable accomplishments would be five total news cycles and the publication of MacDonald’s very first physical paper print. Beyond these, all journalists, regardless of their role or job title, have made their own personal achievements too that shouldn’t be overlooked.
The founding class, consisting of mostly seniors and a few juniors, struggled with many rough patches; something that was to be expected for being a first. Class advisor, Margit Look Henry, helped students to first find their roles.
The first iteration of an editorial team consisted of nine people: Aleya Bierman, Andrew Hom, Bella Barajas, Brandon Medina Mejia, Hailey Gouveia, Jovana Bierman, Riya Raj, Toby Erlinger, and I, Bayahni Guerrero.
The initial job of editors was primarily to assist reporters as we started out such a new elective, which sounds simple, but it had many rough patches.
The first cycle was one of the longest due to the fact that everyone in the class had to relearn how to write; articles are written much differently than regular English essays. Both reporters and editors alike had to adjust to this learning curve.
Editors’ struggle to find balance on the team affected the reporters; with unsolidified due dates, a lack of help, unclear instructions, and more. It wasn’t fair on the reporters to get instructions from an unorganized team who didn’t quite set standards.
Editors realized that there weren’t enough people on the team for the work-load, so more people were recruited to prevent anyone from getting overworked. Titles such as marketing, platform editor, tech editor, and specific section leads were introduced or further developed, as well.
As the year progressed, roles ended up shifting around. People moved to places that suited them best. Yet no ones’ role overshadows another because everyone’s part in the journalism team is valued and every little piece of work is important.
Now, as the final cycle starts to get pushed out, jobs and expectations have gotten more solidified descriptions so everyone consistently knows what’s needed and what’s to be expected.
As the school year comes to an end, the final lineup of Journalism staff goes as follows:
Editorial team:
Aleya Bierman (Platform Editor-In-Chief), Bayahni Guerrero (Managing Editor-In-Chief), Riya Raj (Marketing), Toby Erlinger (Tech), Jovana Bierman (Managing Editor), Jordan Costa (Op-Ed Section Lead), Hailey Gouveia (School Insider Section Lead), Jamil Little and Kassandra Guerrero (Pop Culture Section Leads), and Brandon Medina Mejia (Sports Section Lead).
Reporting staff:
Albert Tran, Andrew Hom, Andy Yeung, Archer Estrada, Arieanna Cruz, Ash Misaalefua, Bella Barajas, Carlos Hernandez Romero, Christian Marquez, Connor Roberts, Daria Tregubova, David Isaiah Mendoza, Hikaru Ferguson, Isaias Gonzalez Ruiz, Jalen Skyy Regondola, Jhonatan Diaz Garcia, Johnson Ngo, Kyle Aidan Avena, Moussa Fall, Mya Urias, William Lin, and Yaqub Arale.
And an honorable mention of Ian Pruden, first non-journalist student to write an article, a Letter to the Editor piece, that was later published on The Condor Current.
A very large and very special thank you to all of the journalists of the ’25-’26 school year for all of the extraordinary work that has been done. All of the articles should all feel like accomplishments on their own for the work that went into them.
And here’s to a hopeful future for MacDonald’s journalism class. Perhaps in years to come, or maybe even as soon as next school year, we will be able to add to our catalog of stories and have exciting new formats for the news!
