When people read The Wrangler, all they are able to see are the perfectly polished, refined publications. They do not see any grammar errors, poorly written articles, stories without any substance, or low-quality photos. Instead, our newspaper website is simply full of wonderfully, meticulously crafted works of art. However, before these articles could be published, several steps must be taken. Let us take a look at the amazing process that must first occur, and the extremely dedicated and hard working staff of Yorba Linda High School’s The Wrangler.

The first step in the publication process is the pitch session. Once a week, all staff members of the newspaper meet to brainstorm about what to write about for this week’s set of articles. Each member must have at least one “pitch” (or topic), that he or she wants to talk about or that he or she believes will pertain to the Mustang student body. After this idea is brought up, the other members, along with our advisor, Mrs. Shay, and editors try to find the best way that this article could be written – how the topic would be approached, who to interview, the best sources of information, where to obtain quotes or photos, etc.

After this pitch session, each photojournalist is assigned an article to write about. The timeline for the completion of the article is about one week. At the end of this week, every article must be turned in. Then, all of the editors will divide the articles equally and will look over and correct any mistakes that they can find. After this, the editors will pass the articles back to the respective photojournalists, who are thus expected to make the appropriate corrections and resubmit their articles for the final round of editing.

If the paper is found to be sufficiently edited and is deemed ready to publish, the editors in chief will ensure that every day, there are at least some new articles that are posted on the website. For a story to be considered on par with the publication standard, it must have at least one quote from the YLHS staff, faculty, or students, as well as one photo. Further, there must be little to no grammar mistakes and must be very engaging and entertaining to the readers. Editor Lily Rajaee (12) claims that, “No one truly knows how hard we work for our school newspaper. I am so proud to be able to be a part of this newspaper team.” Because of how thorough and efficient this publication process is, each and every article is something that the newspaper staff can be proud of, and The Wrangler would not be able to function without the combined efforts of every individual.