As a senior, I have seen my fair share of classes. The debate of if Echo (the student-run newspaper) and Echowan (the student-run yearbook) are clubs is a much needed discussion as the tides begin to shift. For the longest time at Park, students and staff have believed Echo and Echowan are clubs. The truth is Echo and Echowan are classes.

This may sound wrong to some readers because at the end of the day, Echo and Echowan are distributing the newspaper and the yearbook. Things like that don’t happen in classes. I understand that, but you must take into account that both Echo and Echowan happen during the school day. My last class of the day is Echo. Just like a class, we have work assigned to us that we are supposed to get done by a specific due date. 

Another argument you could make is that both classes are student run. You’re not wrong, but you’re definitely overestimating how much free will we get with that education-wise. Every student in Echo and Echowan doesn’t spend time messing around. We get our stuff done, no matter who you are. The chiefs and advisor will talk to everyone about what’s going on before we get to work. The environment feels more like a class and we treat it like a class. Truth be told, when I first signed up for Echo I had no idea it was recognized as a club. I just saw “Adv. Journalism/Echo” on the list of electives I could take and chose it. 

This year, Echo has moved on to a more education-based system. We also have formative assignments about media production as well as points (stories, photos etc.) that count as summative grades. Advisors have made lessons teaching us about whatever we need to know in our current situation. In Echo, we have done things such as checking our copy errors, quote setups, pitching a three source story and much more. For Echo, we have moved on from the main idea of getting your stuff done to how you can improve getting your stuff done. That’s the same thing a class is. A class teaches students how to be better at a subject.

A truth we need to accept is that Echo and Echowan are no longer clubs, they are classes. They have the same elements a class would have and there is no denying it. We have moved to a more education-based system that will most likely stay for the distant future. So it’s time to wake up and understand a new normal is among us while continuing to prosper.