“I hope that, in reading The Log, people will feel more connected to the Loomis community. Our goal is to allow our readers to feel like they have a place within our school. Whether it's news, features, opinions, sports, or mélange, we want Loomis to feel alive.”

Senior Natalie Pereira Co-Editor-in-Chief

More than 75 academic, artistic, social, cultural, and athletics clubs and organizations offer students many opportunities to meet a lot of people and get involved in the school community. This article spotlights The Log, the student newspaper.

The beginning: Founded in 1915 as The Log, the student newspaper merged in 1972 with the Chaffee Chiel to become The Loomis Chaffee Log. For the 2025–26 school year, the newspaper is published by an editorial board of 21 students and is distributed, free of charge, to members of the LC community. The newspaper also can be found online at lc-log.org. There are five sections: news, sports, opinion, features, and mélange, each with multiple editors. This year’s faculty advisors are Mary Forrester and Maggie Howes.

A piece of history: One of the former editors of the student newspaper is Thomas S. Brush Jr. ’40, who went on to become publisher of Brush-Moore newspapers. In 1967, noted The New York Times, the Thomson newspaper group purchased the 12 daily papers published in five states by Brush-Moore Newspapers Inc. for $72 million. Mr. Brush also was a Loomis Chaffee trustee who donated the naming gift for the school’s library in honor of his mother, Katharine Brush, a widely read author in the 1920s and 1930s. The Log notes that the first faculty advisor to the student newspaper was Nathaniel Horton Batchelder, headmaster of the Loomis School from 1912 to 1949.

 

Q&A with the Editors-in-Chief

Senior Alex Park

If someone were to ask you, “Why should I be a part of the student newspaper,” what would you tell them?

My answer is simple: the people. From the teachers that you interview to the editors that you work with, the students and faculty that you get to interact with through The Log make the experience very special. It’s amazing how you’re always forming connections and learning something new about the community through newspaper work. I’d also like to add that writing for The Log is a rare opportunity for a student to produce work for a larger audience. Journalistic writing is very different from what you produce in an English class, and it's nice to develop a new skill to add to your repertoire.

As you get near the deadline on an issue, it must be hectic but also fun. Tell us about that.

Deadline week is always very intense. ... Even though I spend long hours with fellow lead editors editing dozens of articles and finalizing the layout, we find joy in the small moments during editing sessions. When an issue is finally complete and the newspaper rolls out, there's always a sense of pride that comes with it because I can see a tangible result of all our hard work.

Senior Natalie Pereira

When people read The Log, what do you want them to say about the product?

I hope that, in reading The Log, people will feel more connected to the Loomis community. Our goal is to allow our readers to feel like they have a place within our school. Whether it's news, features, opinions, sports, or mélange, we want Loomis to feel alive. It is not only a way to observe our community, but to feel a sense of belonging. I hope readers will also read The Log to support their peers and recognize the amazing work that writers, artists, and editors have done in creating a physical piece of media.

You express yourself on stage and in this way as an editor of the school newspaper. How are they alike, and how are they different?

I feel like both The Log and acting in the school plays are similar. Both mediums promote collaboration with others to eventually produce a final product. Without creativity and working together, neither the theater or The Log would succeed. Also, both The Log and the theater emphasize experimentation. It can be really scary to audition for a show, just like it can be really scary to submit your writing for the Loomis community to read. The goal with both The Log and the theater is to create a welcoming environment where taking risks is encouraged and trying new things isn't judged. While the theater is more focused on using outside stories to urge the Loomis community to reflect on their own life, The Log focuses on stories within Loomis that allow students to reflect on their place within their community. Both bring the Loomis community together, but just in different ways.