A Rant: The SAS Eye Now

Dug out of the Media Lab cabinets were stacks upon stacks of SAS Eye history. Source: SAS Eye Instagram (@thesaseye)

About a month ago, countless editions of The SAS Eye in print form were uncovered from the depths of the Media Lab, our beloved hub of journalism and film. The seemingly limp magazines added up, creating stacks of SAS history dating back to 1983. In need of inspiration during one journalism class, I started snooping around. The magazines were ancient; there were layers of dust on the covers. Grabbing one off the top of a stack and beginning to read it, I immediately knew I wouldn’t be able to find the typical article idea that I’d gotten accustomed to.

My eyes scanned the first spread: an article about sexual activity at SAS with hard-hitting statistics and real incoming news that a teacher was leaving. As I flipped through, the completely original and honest content continued to stun me.

This was real news. Real news coming out of a high school publication.

When thinking of something to write about for the SAS Eye, there’s a thin line between intriguing and scandalous. I’d be lying if I said that I haven’t scrapped countless article ideas into my mental trash bin just because of the small chance that certain consequences could result from it. Each idea gets put through a filter: Will this get views? How much work will I have to put into this? Will it be fun to write/produce? Is this allowed? Will Shack (journalism teacher) or SAS come after me if I investigate this?

While our student voice publication is still of high quality, it was inevitable that the content we publish would change in the transition from print to online in 2010. Don’t get me wrong, I love our Mood for Food series and our consistent movie reviews. This online platform has allowed us to extend into media, making our site more relevant in terms of all the videos we produce—but the amount of breaking and eye-opening news under the SAS Eye name has gone missing. Where are the reports on the scandals at SAS? Where can I read about how my peers are truly dealing with their college rejections? Where can I get the full scoop and be informed on the traditional senior Bali trips? Where’s the breaking news?

So to my fellow SAS Eye Online reporters, I challenge us.

I challenge us to dive into the stories that we’d usually avoid, but are just waiting to be shared. We’ll continue writing and producing those insightful movie reviews and behind-the-scenes interviews. But we have a chance to begin a new era of the Eye by breaking out of the timid shell that had subconsciously developed over the last few years. Let’s begin genuinely reporting on our community. 

And to readers: Make sure to stay tuned—the quality of the SAS Eye is keeping the old content that you love but moving towards something even greater. Soon, I promise that it’ll be the go-to website for all your updates on SAS and our unique student voice.