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Taylorsville • Deadlines are looming at the headquarters of the Warrior Ledger, Taylorsville High's student newspaper, and the air is filled with the same electricity found in a professional newsroom. Soon another monthly issue will hit the hallways. Teenage reporters, editors and designers bustle around, putting the finishing touches on a publication they are passionate about.
It might be another long night.
At Taylorsville High, the newspaper class is far more than a mere elective taken to pile up credit hours.
"It's not just a side class that we do," said Warrior Ledger photographer Kaitlin Mounteer. "This is a full-time occupation."
The Warrior Ledger staff is made up of die-hard journalists: up-and-coming Woodwards and Bernsteins bent on changing policies and drawing attention to overlooked issues.
"The people here are committed," said co-editor-in-chief Dylan Wilson. "We really do care about the paper we're putting out."
The hard work is paying off. In February, Taylorsville won top honors at a state convention and competition at Utah Valley University, winning, among other categories, Overall Design, Best Column and Best Photos. In March, the accolades kept coming when the Utah Press Association (UPA) named the Warrior Ledger the best high-school newspaper in the state (in the larger schools category), which comes with a $500 prize. The UPA also named Taylorsville senior Kiley Atkins as this year's "Super Journalist," an award given to one student who "has demonstrated exemplary work" and "goes above and beyond what is expected of them to portray a story."
The Warrior Ledger sets itself apart because it covers issues such as homeless teens and gay bashing, said Mary Seal, the Warrior Ledger's first-year adviser.
"We have some amazing writers that just have a voice for writing that I haven't had an opportunity to work with before, not even in college," Seal said. "Kiley can take an editorial and convince you to believe just about anything she wants you to believe, which is real talent. Dylan, who's our editor, he can take five stories on the same day and turn those in for you. He's a workhorse."
"Super Journalist" Atkins walked the streets of downtown Salt Lake City, near shelters and beneath bridges, to research a story about homeless teens.
"The story really impacted a lot of people," Seal said. "I saw tears in my classroom when kids were reading it."
In the same issue, the Warrior Ledger ran a column about "a couple teachers who were making some references to homosexuality in their classrooms that were inappropriate," Atkins said.
After the editorial ran, students saw their work help make positive changes at the school.
"In the next staff meeting, [teachers] were called on the carpet, not individually, but as a group," Seal said. "We were told, 'This is not going to be happening here.' "
Mounteer said the staff focuses on big issues in the nation and finds a way to relate them to students at Taylorsville.
"It's not just articles about prom dresses," she said. "It's stuff that really affects us."
The Warrior Ledger provides students a chance to be heard, Seal said. And it's also nice to win.
"Riverton has kind of dominated journalism in the past years," Seal said. "So it's fun for us."