<p>At the start of the year, I founded an online alternative newspaper/blog at my school. I recruited a staff of about 15 kids (all of whom are very knowledgeable about their areas of coverage), talked over my vision with some extremely influential professional journalists (Pulitzer winners, an editor of a top-5 national newspaper etc.), designed a fairly complex web site, gave kids some creative assignments, edited with great care, counseled kids who were newer to journalism, and did a whole lot of reporting and writing of my own. </p>
<p>Well, kids who know more about art/fashion/music/theatre/sports than the kids who cover that stuff for the mainstream school paper spend most of their time actively being engaged in those areas, not writing newspaper articles. The best writers tend to be very academic all-around and not have too much time to pile on one more extracurricular. Despite my offering incentives, nagging, etc., it's hard to get kids to file stories on a consistent basis. The long and short of it is that I'm having a really hard time getting this publication off the ground.</p>
<p>If this whole project never really goes anywhere, will it still have any worth in the college admissions process? I spent the bulk of my free time during semester trying to get this to work.</p>
<p>absolutely, even if the project never takes off, you can demonstrate how you have learned leadership skills such as deadline management, team motivation, etc.</p>
<p>i was misrepresented by my agent in a record contract, and i then learned the legalities of a breach of contract, and the steps toward a subpoena. would it have been sweet to take the tour: yes, was i left empty handed: definitely not, and neither will you</p>
<p>Definitely a plus for your college application if you can talk about what your learned and how it will help you in future endeavors. Keep a lid on the talk about how your nagging and whining abut deadlines didn’t work and focus on how kids tend to over-commit and sometimes fail to follow through instead. You can also still try to have an online quarterly issue of your paper, which may reduce the time commitments for your contributers and allow you to put the good advice you got from your mentors to work. If you plan to continue this activity in college, then say so on your application.</p>
<p>Thanks for the advice, everyone! Maybe we will do the online quarterly thing for the rest of this year (with occasional weekly updates) and then try to grow the staff for next year. I’m just a sophomore, so I’ve still got some time with this.</p>
<p>Anyway, the inspiration for this project was actually a similar publication at what will most likely be my ED school. Should I overtly mention that on the app to that school?</p>
<p>sure. just dont base your ENTIRE application on it.</p>
<p>but yes mention it. theres other interesting threads on those “why X school” essays but being specific and showing the school you did ur research and you actually are deeply interested in the school, i think (in my unexperienced opinion) goes a long way.</p>
<p>lol good for you! I agree, put it on your app. As the editor-in-chief of my school newspaper, trust me I completely sympathize with your position. It’s hard enough to get ppl to write articles by deadlines EVEN WHEN their GRADES depend on it! :)</p>