As the prices rise due to inflation, some clubs and sports are finding it difficult to keep doing what they do. Particularly with our newspaper class, the rising cost is at risk of affecting the way that we print and create online articles on the Knight Writer’s website.

Getting a newspaper into students’ hands, while being a daunting task, is also extremely expensive. Normally, we print about five issues of the newspaper, which leads to a grand total of $1525. The high cost comes from how pricy ink and paper are, and how we have to print in large quantities, so everyone can have a newspaper.

“If we cannot fund our print issues, I think it would affect the entire student body. I know students look forward to our printed issues, and it also helps get our name out there. If we don’t have a paper, people might not know the class exists and the interest in the class will dwindle and it would make it hard to keep the class elective. Also, the newspaper has been printing since the first year of Robinson, 1959, so over 66 years,” Joanie Webster, the newspaper advisor, said.

With our online website, where most of our articles are published, it costs roughly $500 to pay SNO, which hosts our website. We have to pay this fee every year to get our online articles, and it also allows us to have relevant articles with frequent updates. However, currently we don’t have the funds to pay for either print issues or online articles.

“Well, it [the newspaper class] would probably not exist [without the fundraising],” editor in chief (EIC) of the newspaper Anika Sanka (‘26) said. “We wouldn’t be able to pay for our online publication nor our print publication, meaning no one would be able to read anything we write. It would essentially be a journalism 1 class.”

Fundraising can be difficult for the newspaper class because sometimes it’s hard to find time to do so with the pressure of having to keep our website updated frequently. In the past, the newspaper has used the “Donate to the Knight Writers” button listed under every online story. We have also received money from the Robinson Foundation in the past. However, because of the rising costs, these support systems for us aren’t as effective as they used to be in previous years. We have considered other methods of fundraising, but they have generated little profits for the newspaper class.

“It’s [fundraising is] extremely difficult, because many classic fundraising techniques, such as bake sale, car wash, selling chocolate, etc., don’t really accumulate too much money, and we also don’t have as many kids. We have tried to host spirit nights and raise money through the website, but it’s hard to get a good turnout, and the website takes a cut out of all our earnings,” Sanka said.

Without the newspaper, the aspiring newspaper reporters of RHS won’t have a chance for others to read their work and to deepen their passion for journalism.

“I think it would limit the potential passions and careers of staff in the class,” EIC Sophie Le (’26) said. “A lot of people are introduced to journalism by the class, and some will go on to pursue journalism in college and even their own careers. The other EICs and I would be very sad because we put so much time and effort into building this paper.”

Furthermore, Webster shares her views on losing the newspaper.

“As the adviser, if we could no longer pay for the newspaper printed issues and the website, I would be terribly upset. There is no other feeling than when a newbie staffer sees their name in print for the first time. It ignites a spark and love for journalism that can’t be matched,” Webster said.

Newspaper is expensive, but with your help, we could keep the Knight Writers website and paper running. As stated previously, there is a donate button under every article, and anything helps.

“If anyone enjoys the field of journalism and staying informed with all news pertaining to Robinson and beyond, they would be unable to view Knight Writer’s work [without funding]. Help us continue fulfilling our mission of providing timely, relevant and objective news and information,” Sanka said.