Teachers' strike an opportunity for student journalists

On Monday, the first day of a teachers' strike in Huntley Unit District 158, most kids in the district were living on easy street: sleeping in, riding their bikes, playing video games.

Not so for the staff of The Voice, Huntley High School's award-winning monthly newspaper.

When news of the strike broke Monday morning, about 15 student journalists sprung into action, walking the picket lines with notebooks, cameras and an insider's perspective in tow.

The result of their efforts appears in Tuesday's Daily Herald. With the first issue of The Voice not scheduled for publication until Oct. 24, publishing their story in the Daily Herald gives the young journalists a chance to reach their audience on the biggest story of their high school careers.

The staff of The Voice met Monday morning in the basement of Editor-in-Chief Alex Albanese's Algonquin home, mapping a strategy for covering the strike. From there student journalists split up into three teams - one for each of the district's campuses.

While The Voice has not shied away from big questions in the past, even devoting one issue last year to the meaning of life, the young staff acknowledged the strike was the most important story they had covered.

But they had little doubt they could get their teachers, who barely said a word to professional journalists, to go on the record with them.

"They'll talk," said opinion editor Dan Pearce, a senior from Algonquin.

As you'll see from reading their story, they succeeded.