About Us

The Jackson-Reed Beacon is an award-winning newspaper that publishes eight times a year, beginning within the first month of school and ending in June. This student-run newspaper aims to be the voice of Jackson-Reed.

In recent years, The Beacon has expanded to offer a magazine that is published four times a year, once per advisory.

What began as typed pages of news and gossip when the school opened in 1935 has evolved, along with the professional media, into a training ground for some highly successful journalists.

Former CBS Evening News anchor Roger Mudd wrote for The Beacon (when it was known as The Wilson Beacon) and graduated in 1945. In 2011 he said that he is still “embracing Wilson [Jackson-Reed] as the place where we were taught indelibly to accept responsibility for ourselves and our actions.” Author, columnist, and New York Times theatre critic Frank Rich graduated in 1967. He recalled his time writing for The Beacon as “fun and instructive,” a place where he learned the nuts and bolts of newspapers and got the inspiration to become a better writer. Derek McGinty, former weekend anchor of WJLA (the local ABC station) and current 9News Now anchor is also a Beacon alum.

The Beacon is no longer in room 205, as the office was moved to a vacant practice room in the music wing during the construction of the portable classrooms. If you have any inquiries, interest in purchasing ad space, or (if you’re a student) interest in contributing, email us at [email protected].

Read more about the 2023-2024 Beacon staff here.

Join Staff

You can join The Beacon’s staff or contribute ideas, writing, drawings, and photos by…

1. Come to an interest meeting, which happens at the beginning of every issue and is posted on our Remind channel!
2. Emailing The Beacon at [email protected]
3. Approaching an editor in the halls 🙂
4. Expressing your interest to our adviser, Mr. Kelly.
5. Reach out to us on our social media!

Instagram: @thejacksonreedbeacon

Twitter: @jrhsbeacon

Join our Remind group to get notifications of monthly interest meetings, updates, and more: @jrbeacon

Ethics Code

The Beacon realizes that in our fast-paced digital world, the rush to get a story published can sometimes overcome checking for accuracy. We promise to do our best to fact-check our articles, and to be accurate in our reporting. If you believe we as a publication have misrepresented a fact, statistic, or quote, please contact us at [email protected].

Corrections Policy: The Beacon acknowledges that sometimes we make mistakes in our reporting. If you find something to be incorrect, please email [email protected].

Submit an Idea

Want to contribute? Email [email protected] if you are interested in writing, taking photos, or designing the layout of the newspaper or magazine. There’s always room for your ideas!