Over the past two decades, the editors and staff of the R&W have produced a series of unique publications, earning twenty Gold/First Place awards in the same number of years, placing it among the elite in the state according to the president of the Pennsylvania School Press Association.

PSPA President Robert Hankes is among the first to recognize the R&W as “one of the leaders in innovative design.” The high school newsmagazine has become a leading school publication in the state due to the integrity of adviser Sam Bidleman according to Hankes. “Bidleman has found a way to excite his staffs for two decades,” said Hankes. “That is an amazing accomplishment.”
But that was just a dream for the new adviser when Bidleman took over the paper some 30 years ago. His initial goals were to make it a real publication and tell the stories that had not been told before.
“It is a student directed publication which means that the editorial board is in charge of all content and the quality of what comes out,” says Bidleman about how articles make their way into the magazine’s pages.
But the veteran adviser is quick to note that much of the success with last year’s publication was due to 2010 Editor-in-Chief Courtney Sabo, who acknowledges the time and effort that came with her responsibilities.
“I’d go home and work on page layouts for about two to three hours a night,” says Sabo about the nine editions published by the small staff.
Even after her editorial board finished revising articles the last weekends before the paper went to press, she would work on GoogleDocs, Photoshop and InDesign until she was satisfied with the finished product.
A Gold is the top award a publication can receive, which makes the R&W eligible for an All-Sate Award given to only two or three of the state’s Gold winning publications.
But before receiving the Gold recognition, Sabo’s efforts were recognized by others including the PA Newspaper Association’s Keystone Award for Design and top rated page layouts on NewsPageDesigner, an international showcase of graphics, layouts and photography which Bidleman used to share her work.
“Courtney and our staff received compliments from India and South Africa and from Tim Franks, who spearheaded NPD and is the Fort Lauderdale Sun Sentinel’s Creative Director and Deputy Managing Editor,” says Bidleman. “Although I post that she is only a high school student, the world’s professionals are amazed at the quality of her and her staff’s work.”
“One of the things that we do at the R&W that no other high school paper in the state does is every year the new editor redesigns it,” says Bidleman which allows the newspaper to have new energy.
It also creates a new look and promethean designs that makes the publication a renowned paper among national schools.
Qualities like these have others schools amazed at the R&W and the accomplishments of the staff. “This year, Courtney participated in an online webinar with another top-ranked scholastic staff who wanted to know how she and her staff produced our magazine,” says Bidleman. “We were also just featured in the fall edition of the Journalism Educational Association’s national magazine. The article was on the trend of high schools moving to magazine formats. An interview with Courtney and many of her page layouts were included in the article.”