The 2024-2025 school year was defined by “Making Good Decisions,” a theme that led students to reflect on sleep habits, making friends, healthy snacking, and using social media. They reflected on their own decision-making, made comics about decisions like giving up their phone to reduce screentime, and interviewed their own teachers about decision-making in their lives.
They also got to interview a number of health experts and community leaders about many aspects of decision-making. They interviewed a psychology professor about the neuroscience of making decisions, a therapist and former NFL player about friendship, and Healthy NewsWorks alumnus and Villanova student-body president Dean Millard about how good decisions helped him reach his goals.
The impact on students was meaningful. “An experience from the newspaper that meant the most to me was the interview with Keith Prewitt,” said an eight-grade reporter from The DePaul Catholic School about their interview with the vice president of public safety at Jefferson Hospital and a former Secret Service agent. “It meant something to me because it showed me how no matter where you come from, you can always go out in life and be successful.”
Twenty-one student ambassadors also got to lead discussions among Healthy NewsWorks community members at Healthy Conversations at the end of April. The event featured some of the films students produced this year as well as a Q&A with the ambassadors. Approximately 150 people attended, including student reporters, families, teachers, school leaders, supporters, and Healthy NewsWorks staff and board members.
The event was one of the highlights of the year. “The thing that meant the most to me in being part of this newspaper was getting to represent my school at this event,” said a fourth-grade reporter and ambassador. “I made new friends and got to ask adults questions!”
All of the work of the Core and Cub reporters culminated in the Spring 2025 magazine, which features several articles and reflections that students wrote over the year as well as artwork inspired by their lessons. More work from the 2024–2025 school year will be featured in the Fall 2025 magazine, which will be released soon!
