The official student newspaper of Walter Johnson High School

The Pitch

The official student newspaper of Walter Johnson High School

The Pitch

The official student newspaper of Walter Johnson High School

The Pitch

About Us

The Pitch Online  

Founded in 2009, The Pitch Online is Walter Johnson High School’s digital newspaper. In order to keep up with new media trends, the originally print-only newspaper The Pitch went online while still producing its monthly, award-winning print newspaper. After a year of working with barely any web design help, the editors wanted the appearance of the site to match the high quality of its content. So, The Pitch Online partnered with School Newspapers Online, a Minnesota-based company focused on the web design of specifically online high school newspapers, and launched a completely new website in 2010. The Pitch Online continues to keep its subscribers informed and entertained through new and updated content.

As we are still adapting to our site and trying to attract readers, we would appreciate any reader input for The Pitch Online. Co-online Editors-in-Chief Ely Snow, Audrey Ring and Allison Xu are always open to your feedback, so please e-mail [email protected] with questions, comments, suggestions, or concerns.

Mission Statement

The mission of The Pitch is to:

  • Keep the student body, parents, staff and community informed on important school/community events
  • Represent the voices and opinions of individual students, student groups and staff members of the WJ community
  • Allow students to create meaningful connections and relationships with one another, reaching out and strengthening the community as a whole
  • Highlight student athletes, artists and accomplishments
  • Teach interested students about the ethics, purpose, and skills of journalism

Social News Gathering Ethics Code

As a reliable and accurate news source, we strive to:

  • Present news properly, honestly and fairly.
  • Approach every assignment with the fairness of open minds and without prior judgment.
  • Verify the authenticity of content before publishing or distributing it.
  • Be transparent with the audience about the accuracy of our content.
  • Seek informed consent before using information from the individual who created it.
  • Give due credit to the owner of the content provided.
  • Minimize the number of errors we make and correct those that occur.
  • Consider technical measures to ensure anonymity of sources when required.

For corrections, please email [email protected]

Staff Contract

Staff members sign a contract at the start of the school year to ensure that they are committed to representing The Pitch in a way that promotes accountability, respect, and journalistic excellence and integrity

Comment Policy

Readers are welcome to comment. We reserve the right to moderate, delete, or edit comment threads as we see fit. Comments are monitored and spam comments will be deleted. Attacks on other commenters or Pitch staff members will not be tolerated. The opinions presented on this website do not represent the opinions of the WJ student body as a whole. 

Byline Policy

Any significant contributions by a Pitch staff member or editor will be credited in a byline or a tagline by the story. If multiple staff members contribute to a piece, their names will be notated by the story.

Correction Policy

Clarifications and corrections should be clear, concise and direct. They must be comprehensible to anyone who reads them, including readers who may have missed the story that is being corrected. Anyone reading the correction should be able to understand how and why the mistake has been corrected.

2023-2024 Staff

Online Editors-in-Chief: Audrey Ring, Ely Snow, Allison Xu

Print Editors-in-Chief: Seyun Park, Joshua Singer, Rachael Wolfson

Print Managing Editors: Elizabeth Finn, Cecilia Saltzman

Online Managing Editors: Ada Hillman, Nicolas Opipari

News Editors: Abby Kee (Senior), Sara Elster (Print), Maya Panicker (Print), Geetanjali Raju (Online)

Feature Editors: Lily Fisher (Senior), Elli Karistinou (Print), Zoe Ottenritter (Online), Keira Poersch (Online)

Arts & Entertainment Editors: Mia Halper (Senior), Gil Gordon (Print), Josh Hananel (Online)

Opinion Editors: Benjamin Kim (Senior), Rhea Noumair (Print), Shae McCloskey (Online), Sophie Linkie (Online)

Sports Editors: Lily Tapparo (Senior), Mateus Bouquet (Print), Mackenzie Norris (Print), Anna Zucconi (Online), Jose Tovar (Online)

Equity, Diversity & Inclusion Editor: Sara Karbowski

Layout & Copy Editor: Becca Freda

Photography Editors: Michelle Kim, William Murphy, Sam Mayster

Business Managers: Mia Magone, Mackenzie Norris

Film Editors: Leo Holma, Torben Muchetti

Podcast Editor: Liam Barrett

Social Media/Marketing Managers: Kendall Murphy, Kate Kreisle, Isabella Suarez

Illustrator: Rhea Noumair

Staff Writers: Ian Alves, Cal Davies Topalian, Suzanne Hancock, Peter Kahrl, Mayaan Keren, Brady MacBride, Sophia Ruefli, Hillevi Schine, Michal Shmaya, Jeremy Silberglied

Awards (Print)

Columbia Scholastic Press Association

Gold Medalist

Print: 2009, 2013, 2016, 2017, 2019, 2020

Hybrid: 2023

Columbia Scholastic Press Association

Silver Medalist

Print – 2014, 2015, 2018

Hybrid – 2021

Columbia Scholastic

Bronze Medalist

2011

American Scholastic Press Association

First Place

2011

Columbia Scholastic Press Association Marylander Award

Newspaper Division C

2011

Columbia Scholastic Press Association Silver Crown

2016

Donate to The Pitch
$775
$1000
Contributed
Our Goal

Comments (1)

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    Howard KwongApr 7, 2017 at 11:20 pm

    Good Website Keep Up The Good Work

    Reply