Important Dates

Our next meeting will be on October 22, 2009 in Mrs. Gautier's room (209) until 3:15. If you have any questions, please see Mrs. Gautier or Justin Kiefer.

The week of October 5-9 is Spirit Week! Don't forget to show off your school colors!

On October 9, the biggest home football game of the year will commence. Don't miss a moment of it!

            Putting together a school paper is nothing short of hard work. It requires time beyond measure, determination beyond explanation, and a wit beyond words. Even more challenging is to take a perfectly good formula and change it to something radically different.

        Well, that’s just what I, as the new Scarlet Scoop editor, decided to do.

In the past, our paper had been simply a PDF file hosted on the school servers. Though this worked well, it limited us to just being a school paper: all we ever hosted were written articles and occasionally pictures. Noticing that many colleges and universities were moving to an online paper that had more than just words, I came up with an ingenious idea! Before taking the reins as editor at the end of my junior year, I decided that Belvidere too would have just such a paper, containing not only written articles, but pictures and videos of our favorite school events.

It sounds easier than it really is. I’ve spent many late nights pouring through HTML code, fiddling with images, and praying that everything works seamlessly in order to make the paper look like what you see in front of you. I apologize in advance for any formatting mistakes, but we're still working out some of the minor bugs.

Of course, a school paper would be nothing without someone to write for it! As editor, I am proud to say that we have a staff of eight writers who generously donate their time and penmanship to our ongoing endeavor. Their countless support and determination are a testament to the hard work put into The Scarlet Scoop over the years. Without them, all of this would have been for naught.

A very special thanks goes out to Mr. Erik Lee and Mr. Adam Haye for their support in the technology department, and for providing me with the older issues of The Scarlet Scoop.

I’d also like to thank Belvidere High School’s new interim principal Mr. Christopher Halloran for his suggestions and constant support for the new paper. He has been instrumental in not only getting this paper online, but helping me when I needed it most.

Where would any of us be without Mrs. Debra Gautier, the paper’s adviser and teacher-in-charge? Her dedication to the craft of writing cannot be described in mere words, but is rooted in her passion for the English language. Thank you for everything you have done, and continue to do, for all of us.  

At the end of the day, I think the new Scarlet Scoop has a little something for everyone. Whether its sports, music, school events, or anything in between, I’m confident that you will enjoy our accomplishments not only on the paper, but in school in general. After all, it is what we do best.

Have a good read!

-Justin Kiefer

Editor, The Scarlet Scoop