Fight to the death over who gets the last toilet paper roll

In 1984, Room 26 of the Tower Building painted a largely uninspired picture: 19 student journalists working in opposite of a frenzied news environment The Campanile was hardly the quintessence of high school journalism.

Enter Esther Wojcicki, affectionately known as Woj, who transformed this program during her 38 years as a teacher and journalism adviser.

Under Wojcicki’s direction, the Paly journalism program grew into a series of awardwinning publications and one of the largest high school media arts programs in the country.

Wojcicki announced her plans to retire in April, a decision she said was motivated by the COVID-19 pandemic. However, students who have studied under Wojcicki say her impact on the program will last forever.

“When you join the program, you kind of just assume some greater force,” Lisa Brennan-Jobs, former

Campanile Editorin-Chief, said. “But as I’ve gotten older, it feels like a lot of cool things are just because one person really wanted them to be cool and kept on trying to make it that way.”

History of Wojcicki

When Wojcicki began working at Paly, t h e j o u r n a l i s m program didn’t attract many students, she said.

“The program was struc

tured like a typical class, so software, Wojcicki worked said. “If she wanted a new proto speak their mind and learn that I was always in charge, and with her students to expand gram, she would just do it.” leadership skills as well. the students always did what I the publication, both in qualWojcicki said she then “What’s unique about her wanted them to do,” Wojcicki ity and popularity. helped hire Paul Kandell, who is that she trusts her students said. “It didn’t really engage “Word got out around the currently advises Verde, the to use their own judgment, the students. It was boring and school that the teacher let the online publication The Paly that she gives her students the that’s why there were only 19 students have a lot of control,” Voice and the journalism Inpower to make decisions, to kids. No one wanted to sign up Wojcicki said. “And that I was cubator class. Kandell then lead, to think for themselves,” for it.” willing to allow them to write became the adviser of Verde. Epstein said.

This lack of Even at the bestudent voice led ginning of her caWojcicki to implereer at Paly, under ment a new dynamic within the publication, which “I have a history of giving students a voice, allowing them to speak out about situations pressure to be like other teachers in a time when giving granted more authority to the staff that matter to them.” students control of their learning rather than the instructor. The dimiEsther Wojcicki was a radical idea, Wojcicki said she nution of her role still acted on her allowed her students the freeabout things they wanted to “It was beyond just controlfaith in students, transforming dom to produce their desired write about and do things they ling the product and the prothe definition of a classroom content for the first time. wanted to do.” cess,” Kandell said. “She just and pushing the boundaries of

“I got into some trouble According to Economist’s always loved being with young what it meant to be a teacher. with the administration doChina affairs editor Gady Eppeople, and they could feel it.” “She let us, as students, run ing that,” Wojcicki said. “They stein, who graduated from Following the success of the show,” Epstein said. “It didn’t like that idea at all, so I Paly in 1990 and was a Senior Verde, Wojcicki said she conwasn’t a common experience basically had to get students to Editor on The Campanile, tinued to work to broaden the in education back when I was a help me.” Wojcicki was able to completejournalism program, includkid … There were some teach

According to current ly redesign the publication ing an online program, the ers that had different aspects

Campanile co-adviser from its conventional class forPaly Voice, and then Viking of that when I was growing

Rodney Satterthwaite, mat into one that allowed for Magazine, a sports feature up, but Woj was pushing the Wojcicki helped estabstudent control. magazine, in 2006. envelope on that much more lish the precedent “You have a chance when Student enrollment in the so than any other teacher I’ve of student inyou’re running a high school journalism program conever had.” dependence journalism program to shape tinued to grow, prompting According to her students, in the Paly it completely, and she did that,” Wojcicki to start another magWojcicki encourages her stujournalism Epstein said. “I think without azine despite protests from addents to take advantage of this program. her, there is no Campanile, not ministration. independence and create their “One of the as we know it.” “The administration told own unique experiences on things she is As The Campanile grew in me, ‘You’ve got so many pubthe paper. a huge propopularity, garnering attention lications. You’ve got so many “She likes to foster indeponent of from April Fools’ editions and magazines. What do you mean pendence and creativity and was stulate production nights full of you need another magazine,’” get students to own their own dent voice pizza, Wojcicki said by 1999, Wojcicki said. projects and own their own and stu100 students had signed up Wojcicki said administralearning and make it fun,” d e n t for the class. Given the overtors refused to allow another Brennan-Jobs said. choice whelming interest, she took 25 publication, so she decided Sina Farzaneh, the CEO of a n d students from The Campanile to create a new section of The Pullpath, who graduated from mak- and established a new student Campanile and which would Paly in 1999 and was a Sports i n g publication: Verde Magazine. produce Campanile MagaEditor on The Campanile, t h e “The administration also zine, now dubbed C Magasaid he valued the respect and said to me, ‘High schools don’t zine, the newest publication room to experiment Wojcicki pro- publish magazines. I never that Wojcicki helped initiate. gave her students. gram a heard of anything like this. “Her fingerprints are all “She didn’t stand in front student proWhat kind of crazy idea is over everything,” former Camof the classroom lecturing at gram,” Satterthwaite said. this,’ never listening of course,” panile Editor-in-Chief Owen us, she instead set the rules “She’s pushed that to the deWojcicki said. “And I said, Dulik said. “I don’t think any and then let us play … She let gree that, at a lot of schools, ‘Yeah, we’re publishing a magof it would be possible without us drive our own learning,” you don’t see … I know Woj azine. Don’t worry. I’ll find a her.” Farzaneh said. “Givhas gone to bat numerous publisher.’” ing us enough times for students and against Verde Magazine won a Students First f r a m e w o r k administrators.” Over the course of her first two years at Paly, Wojcicki said she worked to gradually Gold Crown from the Columbia Scholastic Press Association that year, becoming the first magazine in California T hroughout her 38 years as a Campanile adviser, Wojcicki said she has and letgive her student journalists to do so. This was the beginalways tried to maintain the more independence. From apning of a series of publications mindset of students plying for a California grant Wojcicki would help start, in first, fostering which allowed her to acquire spite of numerous objections independence, six Macintosh computers in from administration. freedom and 1987 to modernizing and “She’s never really taken no trust in them, streamlining design using new for an answer,” Satterthwaite allowing them

“She’s never really taken no for an answer. If she wanted a new program, she would just do it.” Rod Satterthwaite they’re so reserved. At Campy they tell you exactly what they think … It’s refreshing to be with young people that have great interesting and innovative ideas and they’re willing to share them.” According to Wojcicki’s daughter Janet Wojcicki, associate professor at the University of California, San Francisco, Esther believes students are the future. “Nothing excites her more than young people because they have so much potential and the ability to really change the world and do a lot of good out there,” Janet said. Wojcicki said the idea that young people are smart enough to make decisions on their own turned into her student-focused philosophy. Today, Wojcicki brings this message to the international stage, traveling around the world to share her educational philosophy. In 2014 and 2019, Wojcicki published her books “Moonshots in Education: Launching Blended Learning in the Classroom” and “How to Raise Successful People: Simple Lessons for Radical Results,” respectively. Additionally, over the past winter alone, Wojcicki has spoken at the TAL Education Summit in Beijing, the European Union in Brussels, Tech de Monterrey in Monterrey, Mexico and France Digital Day in Paris with President Emmanuel Macron. “The fact that the district gives her the time to go be an ambassador outside of school is cool because people who don’t teach, I don’t think, understand what teaching is all about,” Satterthwaite said. “She makes it so that people outside of education see that good teachers work hard, good teachers care about their kids … students are smart, high school students aren’t these idiots they’re portrayed to be in teenage movies and TV shows.” ting us play, drawing within the lines. And if we strayed from the lines, not making a big deal out of it.” Wojcicki said her willingness to fight for students and give them independence is shaped by her experiences growing up. When she was 10, Woj’s youngest brother accidentally ingested a large amount of aspirin. Her mother, an immigrant who didn’t speak much English, called the doctor, who told her to put her son to bed. He soon became violently ill, and after going from hospital to hospital but being denied medical services because she couldn’t pay for them, her mother finally found a place that would help her brother. But by that time it was too late. Her brother died before he could be treated by doctors. “This had a really tragic impact on me because … here were some really smart people, doctors with degrees, and they made all these ridiculous statements and mistakes and this child died because they didn’t listen,” Wojcicki said. “So as a 10-year-old I decided … I was never going to listen to authority again unless it made sense.” Wojcicki said this experience as well as her time as a teenager, where she felt like adults never listened to her, made her even more determined to provide a voice for young people. For this reason, Wojcicki said she loves working with students, especially those on The Campanile. “I love the fact that Campy students have a sense of creativity and adventure and wonder,” Wojcicki said. “There’s nothing like working with teenag- ers. Working w i t h a d u l t s , Impacting Others F ormer C a m p a n i l e Editor-in-Chief Ashley Zhang, who graduated from Paly in 2018, said it was Wojcicki who first convinced her to join the publication, a decision that Zhang has been grateful for since. “I was deciding between Campy and Verde and my beginning journalism teacher said I should just talk to the advisors, and I talked to Woj very briefly for five minutes, but she was so enthusiastic about Campy and so I could tell she cared so much about the students in the program,” Zhang said. “That’s why I chose it.” In The Campanile, by giving students the power to take the lead and creating exciting memories for them, Wojcicki fostered a fun, motivating environment that Brennan-Jobs said she continues to seek. “I think when you find something really fun that feels delightful, you’re always trying to find that again,” BrennanJobs said. “And there was just a fun sense of being in a team and I enjoyed being in a leadership role, and I enjoyed the feeling of kind of us against the world and late night drives to the press, and it was just so much fun that in everything I do, I look to recreate that fun again.” Former Editor-in-Chief Stephanie Cong, who graduated from Paly in 2016, echoed this sentiment and said Wojcicki creates an environment that influences students’ perspectives. “She’s been able to design the journalism program in a way that lets you know that you’re really valued,” Cong said. “She puts you in a position where you really get to grow and think about the world in different ways.” According to Wojcicki’s daughter Anne Wojcicki, the co-founder and CEO of 23andMe, Esther thinks of her stud e n t s as an exten- s i o n of her family, and she encour- aged the same unyielding passion and wide perspective when raising her own chil- dren. “She allowed us to follow our passions and she taught us to question things,” Anne said. “It’s a really different look at the world when you realize you can shape it. She empowered all of us to say the world can be what you want it to be.” Future Plans A s for the future of The Campanile, Wojcicki said it is important to uphold the autonomy of students, something she said makes the program groundbreaking in the first place. “Always remember the students and the students have a voice and be respected,” Wojcicki said. “Trust the students, respect their ideas, give them independence, allow them to collaborate and treat them with kindness.” And retirement does not mark the end of Wojcicki’s mission to continue to empower students at both Paly and beyond. Wojcicki said she plans to keep nurturing Paly journalism by serving as an adviser to the district and continue her research and teaching at Stanford MediaX, an affiliate program of Stanford’s Human Sciences and Technologies Advanced Research Institute. She also said she plans to continue her educational legacy by starting a company, WojWay, with former Campanile students. “One of the goals is to promote student self-directed learning at all grade levels starting with preschool and going t h r o u g h college,” Wojcicki said.

Regardless of her retirement, Wojcicki said she always wants to encourage the philosophy of allowing students to have both independence and autonomy. “My goal has always been students first,” Wojcicki said. “(I have a) history of giving students a voice, allowing them to speak out about situations that matter to them. That’s what I’ve been pushing for years. That’s what I’m known for. That’s what I want to make sure always happens.”

Editor’s Note: Driven by a firm belief in the power of what young voices can do, Woj has cultivated a nationally recognized journalism program led by teenagers. From uncovering district scandals to enacting direct change in the school system, Woj’s students have been empowered to go beyond the boundaries of what students are allowed to do — leading them to become more confident in their pursuits. From the current staff, and the countless students she has inspired over the years, we want to express our deepest thanks for changing the way we see our place in the world of journalism.

Wherever she goes, on a local, national or international scale, Wojcicki said she will continue to make moonshots in education.