Junior Justin Less is the Editor in Chief of St. Louis Park High School’s satirical news site The Park Spark. I sat down with Justin to learn more about his role in the publication.

How did you get started with Park Spark?

Last year the seniors started the paper and asked me if I wanted to join. I’ve always loved comedy and comedic writing and this sounded like an interesting opportunity.

What do you do on park spark?

I’m the Editor in Chief. I edit and oversee all the articles that get posted and write my own also. I manage the entire staff and run the website.

 What’s been your favorite part?

I like watching as new stories develop based on what’s happening in the world. It’s fun to see not just the spin I put on it, but how other writers make a situation something funny.

What are some hopes for Park Spark’s future?

Well lately we’ve been working on a real paper edition. We’re working on a small pamphlet with a couple different pages. We want to spread our name around more and get noticed by more people. Hopefully the site will get more viewership.

 How is comedy developed in the newsroom?

Usually once a month or so the whole staff brainstorms about current events. Once we have a list of those, we try to come up with different ways to spin it comedically. Whenever someone writes an article the whole staff has input on the comedic angle. The more refining that happens on our end, the funnier and better the article will be.

 How do you reach out to your readers?

We can look at a lot of statistics on our website like what articles get how many views and where the articles are getting looked at from. We’ve had like over 500 views from Brazil. We’ve joked about writing an article in Spanish just for those readers. Our readership peaks whenever there’s a buzz about the club at school but we have a pretty constant reader base. We’re on Facebook and Twitter, with an Instagram maybe in the works. We tweet out and post every article and try to use word of mouth to let people know what we’re up to.

 What are some skills you’ve learned from Park Spark?

I’ve learned to think more abstractly. You really have to think outside the box if you want an article to be funny. It’s definitely improved my writing skills. Being the editor, it takes a lot to control and run everything. This year I’ve learned a lot about what it takes to be in a position of authority and what it takes to be a good leader.