The New Deal

This issue marks the 100th anniversary of The Deerfield Scroll. As the 100th Board of the Scroll, we take incredible pride in the generations of writers that have come before us, and we understand the weight of the responsibility placed upon us to carry this newspaper forward.

Even though we write with love and pride for the Scroll, we acknowledge that our student newspaper is far from perfect with small mistakes here and there. But most importantly, we realize that we may have lost sight of what makes the Scroll so special — a student newspaper written of the students, by the students, and for the students.

With a century behind us, the Board joins in consensus to commit to certain changes that adapt the Scroll to the new century. As much as we value and celebrate tradition, we also seek to be flexible in face of rapid change happening in the world around us. The Board unanimously agrees that the Scroll should strive to be up-to-date and relevant.

In order to do so, we are redefining our mission statement for the Board, taking into account a suggestion from our outgoing Editor-in-Chief Anna Guerrini. With inspirations from her, we propose the following amendment to our mission statement:

The Deerfield Scroll, established in 1925, is the official student newspaper of Deerfield Academy. The Scroll seeks to uphold the spirit and integrity of journalism, to serve as an accessible platform elevating student voices, and to show that every story and opinion, when written and rooted in compassion, is worth sharing with the Deerfield community. We strive to be a newspaper of the students, by the students and for the students.

Along with the new mission statement, we present a list of eight goals the C Board will strive to achieve:

1. More engagement with the student body: As a student-run newspaper, we want to be more relevant to the student body. We are redefining our role on campus and hope to tailor our articles appropriately to our primary audience-the student body.

2. More student representation: Increased student representation means more polls and more surveys to accurately reflect the student body. As Deerfield's "official student newspaper," we have the obligation to represent the students opinions on these pages. This doesn't just mean passively opening up the Opinion Page—it means actively soliciting opinion. Your input is equally crucial to ensure all opinions and voices are represented.

3. Making it easier for students to share their opinions: We want to be able to bring more accessible ways for students to share their opinions on the issues that matter and are pertinent to the Deerfield audience. We hope to officially advertise these opportunities, such as opening more letters to the editor in pursuit of establishing a clearer system for opinion submissions. For the Opinion section specifically, our goal is to publish more pieces written by Contributing Writers to maintain a diversity of opinion on the Scroll. We encourage everyone, whether they are affiliated with the Scroll or not, to share their opinions.

4. Improved communication: We will work hard to improve communication between writers and editors, so writing for the Scroll will become easier than ever.

5. Creativity based on flexibility and passion: We realized that good writing isn't produced under stern rules. Therefore, we aim to craft pages based on passion and flexibil-ity. Content that is stimulating and engaging but unorthodox in format will be welcomed. That doesn't mean we will take away rigor from our journalism—we will aim to strike a balance between the two.

   There's a fine line between a history essay and journalism, and we want to be on the correct side of that line.

6. Better Board Editorials: That's on us. Board Editorials in the past lacked the vigor and fierceness of typical editorials, partially because the Board's consensus was needed to publish. We envision a new era in which Board members could choose to agree (or disagree) to the Board Editorials, so we have more freedom to write engaging editorials that prompt responses.

7. Collaboration with other schools: Collaboration leads to great work. The C Board will take the initiative to connect with student newspapers from other private schools to establish a common ground for high school journalism.

8. Of the students, by the students, for the students: That's the purpose of the Scroll. We will hold our promises to make the Scroll a better publication. We will work hard to achieve these goals, but we also ask for your trust and engagement as readers and writers to bolster our mission. A hundred years is impressive, but even more so challenging is to be worthy of our legacy.