OC HIGH: STUDENT NEWS AND VIEWS : OC High & You

Welcome back to a new school year--and a new year of OC High.

These pages of news and opinions for Orange County high school students are published each Friday in the Life & Style section. For those of you who are new readers of OC High or are just curious to know more about it, we thought we’d throw a little background info your way.

First off, OC High is written by teens for teens. It is a place to learn about what’s going on with other students at school and off campus.

It is our goal to have a regular correspondent from each high school in the county. Each fall, we invite high school journalism advisers to help identify a student who will become that school’s regular contributor. Students at schools that do not have journalism programs can become involved by letting their school principal know or by contacting us directly.

Our regular correspondents are responsible for gathering weekly “Quote Me” responses from fellow students. Correspondents alert us to news at their schools and send in notices about school functions and events that are open to the public.

Students also write our main features--which in the past year included reports on how to help a friend who is suicidal, how to get into the college of your choice and how to recover from a dating disaster.

Some stories are written by our regular correspondents, others by one-time contributors. Most of the authors have some experience with writing or reporting, often at their school papers.

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There are opportunities to become involved in OC High for those who are not students of journalism, too.

* If you have an opinion you’d like to share, you can do it in “My Turn.” Topics have ranged from a serious look at the pressures to try drugs to a humorous piece on the frustration of trying to open tightly packaged CDs.

* If you want to recommend something to other students, you can do so in a feature called “Check It Out.” It has ranged from reviews of movies and music to suggestions for unusual outings.

* We welcome letters to the editor with your comments on articles we have published or on other topics.

All submissions you would like considered for publication should include your name, age, school, and your phone number and address so we can get in touch.

If you have an idea you think would make a good story, let us know. We might be able to tackle the topic in an upcoming issue.

Whether you are in the Class of ’95 with your sights set on life beyond or the Class of ’98 and still trying to focus on the four years ahead, we hope OC High will be a part of your new school year.