First student digital publication launches

For decades, The ReMarker has consistently been ranked as one of the most lauded student newspapers in the country. On Friday, Sept. 22, the paper took its next step by launching an online version: smremarker.com.
 
This new online publication provides fresh content and a timely offering of school news and feature stories written and produced entirely by journalism students. The website supplements the printed newspaper with a digital platform, allowing more responsive and robust reporting. The site's launch also coincided with the publication of the first newspaper of the 2023–2024 school year. 

 

“We will be able to release up-to-date stories twice a week,” said Ben Adams ’24, the first digital editor of smremarker.com, who worked throughout the summer to bring the new publication to fruition. “There is a lot of video and photo content we could not offer before because of the limitations of print, and everyone is excited to cover more school events.”

 

The publication is the brainchild of journalism teacher Jenny Creech, who also serves as advisor to smremarker.com. Creech came to St. Mark’s in 2022 from The Athletic online sports publication, a subsidiary of The New York Times, where she was deputy managing editor. Along with the online and print ReMarker, she also advises the Marksmen yearbook and Focus magazine. The ReMarker will continue to be printed seven times per school year.

 

“When I first came to St. Mark’s to visit about the position, starting a digital publication was something I told the school administration was important to me,” Creech said. “It was supported right from the start before I was even hired. I came from the digital journalism world and have tried my best to pass my knowledge along to these boys.”

 

Marksmen readily accepted the opportunity to launch a digital publication because it was familiar to them. Many students, if not most, consume all their news on digital platforms. As Creech worked with her students last year, one student emerged as a critical component of the publication.

 

“My goal was to give myself five years to get to know the journalism program before launching a digital publication,” Creech said. “But then I had Ben Adams ’24 in class, and I decided he must be the first digital editor; he needs to be the person to launch smremarker.com.”

 

Adams is excited about the ability of the website to provide more current news in varied mediums to better inform and connect the community.

 

“Whenever our community wants to know what’s going on around campus, the score of the last game or who the speakers from the last Lit Fest were, they can immediately go to this website, and they will be able to see all the stories,” Adams said. “The community is going to be able to see what’s happening around the campus a lot more.”