Journalism takes many forms at Parker: pop culture in SCOUT, art and poetry with Phaedrus, or stories of the Parker community with The Weekly.
Parker also has STEM offerings that students can take advantage of by joining the ROV team, competing in Scholastic Bowl tournaments, or becoming a member of Math Club.
What if someone wants to do both? Senior Chase Wayland presents a solution to bridge this gap with his new math and science publication: The Prime.
“Parker really easily divides students into a sort of STEM [vs.] humanities thing,” Wayland explains, “like the ‘STEM kids’ do robotics and the ‘humanities kids’ do the Weekly.”
Although considered to be under the umbrella of a traditional “STEM kid,” being involved with Robotics and Scholastic Bowl, writing has always had an “aesthetic appeal” to Wayland. He’s been surrounded with it his whole life, through his sister who was involved with journalism throughout high school and college, and his mother who has a degree in journalism. However, being under this umbrella means he wasn’t offered the same writing opportunities as someone who was more into humanities would be.
“I love to write and read… and I also like math,” Wayland said, “and that doesn’t make me a ‘STEM kid’ or a ‘humanities kid.’ I just like multiple things.”
One consequence of the STEM/humanities split is that there are not really opportunities to explore STEM in a journalistic way, as that’s seen as more of a “humanities thing.” And so, The Prime was born.
Wayland raises the point that at Parker, spaces that are thought as more STEM aligned, like Robotics or Scholastic Bowl, are all competition-based. He wants to use this publication as a mechanism to “offer a space where people can do science and math without having to compete,” and foster, “a greater intellectually curious culture.”
“People at Parker consider STEM as less of an interest and more of a pathway,” Wayland said, “I’d like people to read,a fact,and not go, ‘oh, maybe that’ll get me into college.’ I’d like them to read it and go, ‘That’s so cool!’”
To create a new publication, you first need to write a pitch. A pitch is the mission statement for the publication and outlines the plan for the organizational structure and what needs to happen to get there. Wayland brought his pitch to Upper School Dean of Students Joe Bruno, who said yes. This meeting also includes discussions of funding the print copies and the publication’s website.
The next step is getting a faculty advisor. The faculty advisor for The Prime is Eighth Grade Math Teacher Tim O’Connor who also happens to be the reason Chase Wayland developed an interest in math. On why he chose to take the role, t he likes “encouraging divergent ideas, and this seemed like something that could go in a lot of fun and interesting directions.” O’Connor said. O’Conner values not defining students solely by their interests or strengths, and that ideology is what led to the creation of The Prime in the first place.
“Encouraging creative thinking and new ideas can come from anyone with any background.” O’Connor said.
In The Prime, which is planning on publishing its first issue this January, one can write about anything from theoretical math conjectures to the natural sciences. Students can also write articles that are more opinionated and personal, like something about how a math concept or chemistry lab changed your perspective on life. Sophomore Annabelle Kutcher, plans to write about math. “I joined The Prime because I am interested in math,” Kutcher said, “and I thought it would be a cool opportunity to learn something new and collaborate with others.”
After the first issue, Wayland hopes to set things up to continue the publication into the next school year, like new editors-in-chief, staff writers, and copy editors. In the future, the goal is to publish two issues a year, similar to SCOUT.
“I want The Prime to be a thing where someone reads an article that a friend wrote and then goes to them, and then they refer them to a teacher, and then they get into a fun discussion with the teacher,” Wayland said. “It’s just about inspiring people and making sure that people are excited about math and science.”