The Phoenix has been Fremont High School’s student-run newspaper since 1943. Every month, the journalism class publishes a newspaper. The physical paper is currently composed of six sections in the order of: News, Arts and Entertainment, Special Feature, Opinion, Sports and Creative which was reintroduced in May 2025. Content within these six sections is also found on The Phoenix’s website: fhsphoenix.org. The website also includes an online section with articles that were not published on the physical paper. In May 2025, another online section called Broadcast was added — which promotes the paper and FHS community through forms of media.
From its birth to its current state, The Phoenix has undergone major changes. Formerly called The Chief, the paper got its name from FHS’s original mascot: The Indians. Yet, before a student could write for The Chief and join the journalism class, they had to take a prerequisite course called Writing for Publication. In this course, students were able to practice the craft of journalistic writing, and publish one issue at the end of the year. Although this made the journalism staff smaller, students would join the the staff already skilled in writing allowing higher output.
The Chief consisted of five main sections, starting with News as the front page, followed by Editorials, Opinions, Features, Sports and News again on the last page. The paper was longer, consisting of 16 pages — contrary to the 12 pages that make up The Phoenix today.
Mini-sections were also included in the paper, though these evolved over time. News had a mini-section called News in Brief, which had quick summaries of events, differing from the articles in News and front page. Opinion had two mini-sections: Letters to the Editor and Political Commentary. Letters to the Editor was the only portion of the paper where students outside of journalism could respond to an article and have that published on the paper. Later editions created Indian Insight as a mini-section in opinion, as well as debates.
Similar to The Phoenix, articles in Sports almost always highlighted at least one athlete. Later on, a sports-opinion column called Covering the Bases was put in the section, which was created by FHS assistant principal Andy Walzack when he was sports editor. Advertisements were often placed on sports and the Features pages.
The bulk of the paper was the Features section. This section was very graphic heavy and contained articles ranging from pop culture to student life. Later iterations of Features also included a centerspread, which had articles relating to one topic and containing large graphics with color.
Since the paper was one of the few ways the student body was kept informed of events, articles throughout these sections embodied the ideas, timely events and issues students wanted to cover and read about. FHS alumni and former Feature editor Dr. Anjali Williams, P.H.D. co ‘92, describes the culture of The Chief, and the types of articles they put out.
“It was a serious newspaper, and it was both popular, but also taken seriously,” Williams said. “Everyone who was on it worked really hard, and we were trying to create the best newspaper we could. We did a lot of reporting about what was actually happening at school.”
Taking inspiration from other famous newspapers such as the New York Times, The Chief dedicated a page to Editorials, which is the only main section that is not on The Phoenix. Pieces under Editorials were always written anonymously and often contained controversial topics. Examples of this are in the 1989 issue with an article called “We want ‘Slave Day’ back,” as well as debates about abortion. Williams explains why they chose to write controversial topics.
“I don’t remember ever being told that we couldn’t write on a topic — and we wrote on pretty controversial topics,” Williams said. “We were encouraged to do that. That was the point of a newspaper.”
Though serious articles were fundamental to the paper, writers often integrated humor and personal stories throughout the paper. An article from the 1989 issue titled “Jodi gets clean teeth, clean soul” embodies both of these characteristics. Despite the separate sections, regulations on what type of content could be put was more lenient. Opinions could still be shared under the Features section, although these were typically less controversial and often about lifestyle and culture rather than issues or beliefs.
After pitches were assigned to one of these sections and students began writing for the paper, editors would start to create the layouts. During the second week of a production cycle, editors used a desktop publishing software, Page Maker, to create their layout and finalize the articles that were going under their section. Despite this, most of the layout was done by hand. Williams describes the time-consuming process of making the paper.
“[Editors] would have to print out the articles and the headlines, and actually paste them up by hand,” Williams said. “So, we had these machines where it was lit up so you could see the lines and make sure you’re getting the rulers right and everything. We used rubber cement [to paste on graphics or headlines] because you can pull it off and put it back on again easily. We were constantly trying to put together these pages and make them look the best you could by hand.”
Eventually, the paper was finished during the third week and distributed throughout the school. However, the once popular journalism class started to lose interest amongst students near the early 2000s. This resulted in discontinuation of the Writing for Publication class and journalism class in 2010. At this time, FHS became the only FUHSD school without a newspaper despite student protests. This decision stood until 2012, when FHS reinstated the journalism class (although they did not bring back the Writing for Publication course).
Once the journalism class was reinstated, the paper was renamed, now being called The Phoenix. The sections developed into the current ones, but early versions of The Phoenix did not have a distinct section for Special Feature (which was previously under Arts and Entertainment) or Online. FHS literature teacher and former journalism advisor Ms. Stebbins explains what she envisioned The Phoenix as when it was restored.
“I wanted [students] to understand the basics of journalism, and really maintain the integrity of the paper,” Stebbins said. “I just wanted to set the foundation and create an environment where students felt the power to make [The Phoenix] the best they could possibly get.”
When the paper restarted in 2012, much of the focus was on the physical copy. As a result, the online website was not as advanced as its current state and there was not an online editor until 2017. However, once the pandemic hit, access to creating the physical paper ceased, and the journalism class relied heavily on the website. FHS alumni and former Editor-in-Chief in 2020 Vivien Su describes how the paper operated and the biggest adjustments during COVID-19.
“During COVID, our operations were significantly curtailed, it felt as if our students were deprived of the professional writing experience they were promised,” Su said. “The biggest adjustment journalism made during COVID was strengthening our website, so that was one great thing that journalism got out of the pandemic.”
After the pandemic, the journalism class continued to produce the physical copy of the paper, but also sought out to continue improving their online website. Content in The Phoenix discussed topics relevant to FHS and the student body, but current events and global issues started to become more prominent. FHS alumni and former Editor-in-Chief Smera Jain spoke about the shift in content.
“Not every year looks like that where things are happening one after another,” Jain said. “Because we are in such a global frenzy, we covered those events because they affect those people, and they affect people on campus.”
Despite formerly being a historically underfunded publication, The Phoenix continues to strive for improvement and continues to change every year. The Phoenix is supported by the Assistance League of Los Altos. Consistently setting goals and aiming to make each issue better than the previous one, The Phoenix has been able to recover from setbacks and cultivated a class filled with passion and aspiration. Even with the countless differences between The Chief and The Phoenix, one thing stays constant: the drive to enhance the paper and build a community of dedicated students. Williams speaks on the importance of journalism and its every-changing essence.
“You’re part of a group of people that are continually trying to refine and make [the paper] better; and at the same time, keeping up traditions,” Williams said. “You’re almost writing your own history of sorts, and you’re actually producing something together as a team that is very rewarding, and satisfying.”
