About

History

In 2012, Student Member of the Board of Education John Mannes created a countywide press network to help build a conduit to share fresh and relevant information written by youths to the wider Montgomery County student body. As a part of the Student Member of the Board’s Student Advisory Council (SAC), John helped supervise the MoCo Student along with SAC Press Secretary Jessica Li, a student at Richard Montgomery High School. When John graduated from Northwest High School and his term as Student Member of the Board came to a close in June 2013, the MoCo Student separated from the Student Advisory Council and began to expand as a countywide student newspaper not affiliated with the Student Member of the Board. Today, the MoCo Student has over 90 writers, artists and editors from high schools across Montgomery County.

23-24 Current Staff of The MoCo Student

Editors (click here for editors’ and social media managers’ biographies)

  • Allison Xu, Editor-in-Chief
  • Dhruv Narang, Editor-in-Chief
  • Riya Khatri, Raha Murtuza, and Michaela Boeder, Copy
  • Seyun Park and Shelby Roth, News
  • Elli Jacobs, Montgomery County News
  • Maru Amtataw, MoCo for Change
  • Joy Jiang, Opinion
  • Akshya Mahadevan, Arts and Culture
  • Chelsea Zhu, Features
  • Ben Kim, Sports
  • Madeline Springer, Young Writers
  • Ayza Siddiqi, Graphics
  • Leeyaat Assefa, Photos
  • Dev Narang and Reanna Jin, Social Media

Correspondents/Reporters

News

  • Sushma Katta, junior at Richard Montgomery High School.
  • Elizabeth Mehler, senior at Thomas S. Wootton High School.
  • Anushka Gulla, junior at Thomas S. Wootton High School.
  • Claire Liu, junior at Clarksburg High School.
  • Samantha Cutler, junior at Richard Montgomery High School.
  • Ninia Sopromadze, freshman at Walter Johnson High School.
  • Romina Mofrad, junior at Walt Whitman High School.
  • Varun Srinivasan, sophomore at Wheaton High School.

Montgomery County News

  • Jessica Yao, sophomore at Richard Montgomery High School.
  • Chloe Chang, sophomore at Poolesville High School.
  • Margaret McLaughlin, junior at Richard Montgomery High School.
  • Sabrina Solares, junior at Walter Johnson High School.
  • Nisha Khatri, sophomore at Sherwood High School.
  • Obiefuna Moneme, freshman at Walter Johnson High School.

MoCo for Change

  • Ellie Noh, senior at Richard Montgomery High School.
  • Nade Phyu, freshman at Seneca Valley High School.
  • Miley Thomas, freshman at Seneca Valley High School/Montgomery Virtual Academy.
  • Max Ekstein, sophomore at Walter Johnson High School.
  • Nicolas Leyva Díaz, sophomore at Springbrook High School.
  • Efratha Tewodros, freshman at Paint Branch High School.

Opinion

  • Anjali Harrison, sophomore at Montgomery Blair High School.
  • Noor Mahmoud, junior at Thomas S. Wootton High School.
  • Lydia Seo, sophomore at Richard Montgomery High School.
  • Ishani Biswas, senior at Poolesville High School.
  • Aisosa Ighile, senior at Paint Branch High School.
  • Subhaan Ahsan, sophomore at Magruder High School.

Features

  • Ximena Sacks, sophomore at Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School (BCC).
  • Hayley Gottesman, sophomore at Thomas S. Wootton High School.
  • Huan Changvu, sophomore at Winston Churchill High School.
  • Pragna Pothakamuri, sophomore at Thomas S. Wootton High School.
  • Chloe Schaffran, junior at Walter Johnson High School.
  • Daniela Naaman, freshman at Thomas S. Wootton High School.

Arts and Culture

  • Sahana Thyagarajan, junior at Walt Whitman High School.
  • Allisson Rodriguez, sophomore at Springbrook High School.
  • Amber Li, senior at Springbrook High School.
  • Dresden Benke, junior at Walt Whitman High School.
  • Nadiyah Wilson, freshman at Paint Branch High School.
  • Alejandra Sanchez, sophomore at Seneca Valley High School.

Sports

  • Jeremy Silberglied, sophomore at Walter Johnson High School.
  • Avni Koenig, sophomore at Thomas S. Wootton High School.
  • Naima Cho-Khaliq, junior at Thomas S. Wootton High School.
  • Faith Kim, senior at Seneca Valley High School.
  • Ari Fine, junior at Richard Montgomery High School.

Graphics

  • Arpa Gomes, senior at Springbrook High School.
  • Meera Menon, junior at Thomas S. Wootton High School.
  • Katherine Hua, junior at Thomas S. Wootton High School.
  • Samiya Mirakbar, sophomore at Walter Johnson High School.
  • Grace Ziqing Chu, senior at Walter Johnson High School.
  • Daniel Chernyak, senior at Richard Montgomery High School.
  • Kaylly Vargas, sophomore at Paint Branch High School.

Photos

  • Raphael Salamon, senior at Walter Johnson High School.
  • Nathaniel Belizaire, senior at Paint Branch High School.
  • Tia Daher, sophomore at Seneca Valley High School.
  • Norah Sonti, sophomore at Richard Montgomery High School.

Social Media

  • Chelsea Ewli-Kwakutse, senior at Watkins Mill High School.
  • Tshilanda Kabasela, senior at Paint Branch High School.
  • Allison Andreyev, freshman at Thomas S. Wootton High School.
  • Celeste Harris, freshman at Damascus High School.

Young Writers

  • Gloria Jin, seventh grader at Cabin John Middle School.
  • Jack Loveday, eighth grader at Sligo Middle School.
  • Huy Changvu, eighth grader at Cabin John Middle School.
  • Brindha Mahadevan, seventh grader at Hallie Wells Middle School.
Co-founder John Mannes discussed journalism and the MoCo Student's work at a Wood Middle School career day.
Co-founder John Mannes discussed journalism and the MoCo Student’s work at a Wood Middle School career day.

1 thought on “About

  1. December 1 is the deadline for middle and high school students in the down county portion of Montgomery County to submit photographs to the “Visions of Your Community” contest. Entering is free and easy. Cash prizes will be awarded.

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