Trailblazer chooses editors for 2020-21 school year

This upcoming school year, the Trailblazer will be welcoming some new editors.

Among the editors who have been writing for the Trailblazer for years, new ones have been chosen for the 2020-21 school year. They were interviewed by co-advisors Vani Apanosian and Alexandra Pfleging via Google Meet due to the Covid-19 pandemic, with the incumbent editors chiming in with additional questions.

On May 4, it was announced to applicants that the new editors joining the staff are Maeve Rossig, Jacob Charnow, Claudia Kim, and Izzy Frangiosa. All five started writing for the Trailblazer this year and, in addition to the interview, submitted their best article for consideration. 

[Click here to see all of the editors for next year and here to check out the positions from this year.]

A little over a week later, the Trailblazer welcomed another new editor to the team, Kate Zydor.

Frangiosa, a rising senior, and Charnow, a rising junior, were chosen as editors of the Sports section, which will cover student-athletes and sporting events at Hills, in addition to broader topics such as staying in shape and collaborations with the opinion section.

“This year, I want to bring a voice to the Trailblazer that is new and unique,” explained Charnow. 

Frangiosa agreed, saying “I want to improve the sports section the best I can, especially focusing on sports here at Hills. Sports are such a huge part of Cowboy culture, and I want to include all sports in our newspaper.”

Rossig is the new co-editor for the Arts and Entertainment section; outside of the Trailblazer, she was recently elected the president of the student government’s executive council.

“I’m really excited to be able to focus on writing about what I love. I hope I can influence other people to love writing and cover topics that the Hills community would enjoy,” she said. 

Rising sophomore Zydor will be the co-editor for the In-Depth section, and she is looking forward to engaging the Hills community.

“This year, I am really looking forward to producing quality articles that pull the readers in and spark conversations,” she explained. 

Each editor has their own writing experience that led them to be interested in joining. “I joined the journalism class this year, where I really found my love for journalism. English has always been my favorite class because I love reading and writing,” said Rossig. 

Like Rossig, Charnow says he “became interested in writing by taking the journalism class.” Pfleging has taught the course for several years, inspiring many students to join or contribute their writing to the Trailblazer.

Zydor also took Pfleging’s journalism class, where she wrote articles and made a podcast. This allowed her to take her “love for writing, and use it to share news and important messages to readers through journalism.”  

On the contrary, Frangiosa said her experience has come more from outside the classroom. “I’ve always been a big reader and enjoyed writing short stories and the like. I like to stay informed in news, so journalism was an interest for me since middle school and the Trailblazer was a natural choice to join when I got to high school.”

Evidently, each editor’s favorite article to write is those relating to their sections.

“I like writing sports opinion articles,” said Charnow. 

Rossig’s favorite articles to write fall under Arts and Entertainment. “I love doing movie and TV show reviews, and covering award shows,” she specified.

“I really like writing articles that allow me to express my thoughts and opinions on a variety of topics, especially hard-hitting or controversial ones,” explained Frangiosa.

“Personally, my favorite type of articles to write are In-Depth pieces. I think they are very important because they not only dive further into detail about the topic at hand, they are also likely to be discussing an issue or occurrence that is of great value,” said Zydor.

Notably, the new editors are active members of the Hills community, with other involvement outside of the Trailblazer.

“I’m a member of the softball team and the school band. Outside of school, I enjoy volunteering and CrossFit,” explained Frangiosa.

Zydor is part of the Hills volleyball team, track team, and participates in Model UN. 

“I’m really involved in student government, and I’m looking forward to being the executive president at Hills next year! I also partake in Camp Raspberry as well as being on the cross country and track teams,” said Rossig. 

“I also play baseball,” said Charnow. 

Eusebio is the vice president of Hills’ National Honors Society chapter and the press secretary of the student government’s executive council; she also enjoys filming and producing videos.

Aside from the new section editors, rising seniors Jared Mitovich and Mackenzie Blowers have been chosen Editors-in-Chief. Mitovich and Blowers started off as staff writers their freshman year; they both managed the Trailblazer’s social media their sophomore year, tweeting and posting about recent articles, breaking news, and school events. This year, Mitovich edited the Opinion section and Blowers edited the College Corner section; in addition, they helped revamp the Trailblazer’s website to make it easier to view across platforms.

“I am so excited to be Editor-in-Chief next year along with Mackenzie. We have a great team, including an awesome roster of new and existing editors as well as a fantastic advisor in Ms. Apanosian. I am confident that the Trailblazer is going to accomplish great things as we continue to be the eyes, ears, and voice of the Pascack Hills community in new and exciting ways,” Mitovich said.

“Having the opportunity to be Editor-in-Chief next year is almost surreal. Jared and I have always been friends, so being able to work alongside him is amazing. I know that this year, every single staff member for the Trailblazer is going to elevate our newspaper to a whole new level, and I’m so excited to see that,” Blowers replied.

Overall, major changes are being made to the Trailblazer for the 2020–21 school year, which promise to have great impacts on the club and how the Hills community receives its news.

Here is the full list of the 2020–21 Trailblazer editors: