In today’s digital age where clickbait headlines are king and social media content reigns supreme, it would almost seem unbelievable to argue that print journalism holds any relevance for teenagers in 2026.
But at Riverside Brookfield High School, the students involved with long-time student newspaper, The Clarion, would beg to differ.
In publication for 94 years, The Clarion’s presence at RB remains as strong as ever.
With the student-led publication boasting not only upwards of five print issues, but regular updates to its website, RB’s student journalists continue to prove the staying power of quality journalism.
For English teacher and Clarion advisor Marc Helgeson, The Clarion’s largest point of pride is that the paper is 100 percent student-run.
“I have been surprised many times over that kids still value print journalism, and the students in this course take great care of the paper,” said Helgeson, who has served as the newspaper’s advisor for 11 years. “The expectation is that kids are in class learning the basics of journalism, but they also have many responsibilities outside of class, like doing interviews and taking photographs.”
At RB, The Clarion is operated as a hybrid course/club, where students sign up for a full-year of the class and meet on a daily basis, but are often found in the newsroom before school or after school taking care of business.
At the helm of The Clarion this academic year are seniors Aryan Hernandez, of Brookfield, and Chloe Borkowicz, of La Grange Park. Hernandez, who serves as editor-in-chief, and Borkowicz, who is the general managing editor. Both students have been involved with the paper since freshman year.
What they love most about The Clarion is that the class is a living lab — a feature they find distinctive from other programs at RB. Both Hernandez and Borkowicz agree with The Clarion, there is an overwhelming sense of pride and ownership over the paper.
“I think The Clarion is a really special class — it’s definitely a comfort class for me,” Borkowicz explained. “There’s no other class that I go into where I just know that I can be completely myself, and I feel like it’s rare to find that in high school. Whatever source of creativity you have, it can be met here.”
Hernandez says what he enjoys most about The Clarion is the people and the environment they create.
“We get to do everything how we want to do it and how we see fit,” he said. “Hard copy layout is my favorite part of the year because we’re all laughing, talking and working together. There’s a place for everyone here, and it’s just a really special environment for a lot of us.”
Regarding the relevance of print journalism at the school, both Borkowicz and Hernandez agree that at RB, there remains a yearning for local school news and unique peer perspectives on national and global issues.
“I think people really appreciate that in the newspaper, we have every voice shared, whether we feature a specific student or teacher, or in our ‘reacts’ section, where we interview a bunch of students on a specific topic,” Borkowicz said. “I think that for students, reading articles written by their peers is very accessible.”
Hernandez says students and staff alike remain excited and engaged with The Clarion as the staff continually finds ways to make reporting on news exciting.
“A big part of making sure we feature as many types of stories as we can is we have discussions where the entire class is focused on giving their ideas,” he said. “Everyone here knows there is no such thing as a bad article idea. We also really push opinion pieces, including food reviews, and light-hearted stories that really stick with people.”
As for the forecast of The Clarion’s future presence at RB, Hernandez and Borkowicz don’t foresee the paper losing its relevance. In their opinion, the demand for quality news on campus isn’t going away.
“Not everyone is going to want a physical newspaper, but RB is a really supportive community and people really like to see what we do,” Hernandez said. “Actually having tangible hard copies is a lot more personal and human than going online. The future is unpredictable, but I think there’s always still the human part of the hard copies that people enjoy.”
Borkowicz adds that alongside student demand is staff appreciation of campus journalism.
“Our teachers really enjoy the print edition too — I hear a lot of teachers ask when the next hard copy is coming out,” she said. “We also bring them out into the community at libraries and grocery stores, and they tend to go pretty quickly, so I think that there’s definitely positive reactions to our physical copies.”
In leading the students, Helgeson says what he finds the most value in is the true sense of teamwork and camaraderie the students have all year long.
“I love watching the students start as freshmen and matriculate up through the ranks as editors, and watching them start from developing ideas, then move to distribution of that idea is invaluable,” Helgeson said. “It’s unbelievable to watch them grow through that process and watch them communicate not just between themselves, but to the outside world. And, I value the freedom that Riverside Brookfield gives us to write whatever we think we need to report on — they trust us.”