The Oracle

The October 2024 issue

The Oracle is Gunn's monthly newspaper, available as printed issues and online at gunnoracle.com. It often puts out surveys of student opinion or experience and incorporates the results into articles. It is published by students in the Advanced Journalism and Media Studies - Newspaper class. The Oracle also runs Instagram and Facebook accounts, which publish shorter articles on school events.

Print issue sections

The Oracle is organized into six main sections, each of which covers a different topic or category of article in each issue. These sections are:

• News — reports on local and national events, especially those which affect students.
• Forum — opinion pieces about various social issues, usually less "newsworthy" ones, noticed in the community.
• In-Depth (previously Centerfold) — just one article, the longest of the issue and over the largest spread (2 pages). Focuses on a single community issue or other topic, usually not "breaking news".
• Features (Featz) — celebrates and spotlights specific students, staff, or other Gunn community members who have recently done something or are doing something deemed noteworthy. Examples include features on campus supervisors, the Unity PE class, teachers who were previously Gunn students, and student wellness advocates.
• Sports (previously combined with Lifestyle) — opinion pieces, news, deep dives, and other articles related to sports.
• Lifestyle (previously combined with Sports) — humor, culture, media, and other less "serious" topics. Also includes the games: 15x15 crossword and other trivia/puzzle games.

The Oracle also runs advertisements to support itself.

Other sections

Social media

The Oracle runs Instagram and Facebook accounts that post multiple times a week with photos from school events like sports senior nights and theatre performances. Each post includes a caption of a few paragraphs that summarizes the event and includes quotes from interviews with ~2 associated people.

Graphics and Photos

Print issues generally include a lot of graphics, or student-drawn art; the Graphics section is in charge of this and facilitates the art's creation. There are also photos in the print issues, albeit usually less than graphics; the Photos section manages these, but does most of their work managing the photos used in the multi-weekly social media posts.

Most graphics are drawn and photos are taken by student freelancers, not by members of the Oracle class itself; these are the only elements of the Oracle that can be contributed to by anyone not in the Journalism pathway classes. There is usually an onboarding period for these freelancers every semester, with a simple application and portfolio.

Online

Part of the print cycle but not in the print issue itself, the Online section covers articles that are published only on the Oracle's website.