Before the Wahawk Insider: The Spectator
Spectator article from 1931.
October 5, 2022
Before the Wahawk Insider, the students at West had a different way of informing the Wahawks. From the beginning of West all the way until the early 2000’s, The Spectator was how the Wahawks shared sporting events, news, features, and even comic strips.
Currently at West High, there are archives that document our history and within these archives you can find actual newspapers. The Wahawk Insider staff got access to these documents and got to take
a look at physical copies of the newspaper dating all the way back to the 60’s.
Waterloo’s Superintendent Dr. Jared Smith was actually a part of the Spectator when he went to West High in 1996-2000. Dr. Smith said “I gained some valuable skills, very valuable skills while writing. Would I have actually published a book had I not been on the Spectator? There’s a chance I wouldn’t have” when reflecting on his time with the Spectator.
Dr. Smith also mentioned the personal friendships he made on the Spectator, he said the staff would hang out on weekends and bond during the class period.
The friends I had in there, we were juniors and seniors and it was just so much fun, like hanging out. We all became best friends. We would hang out the weekends and we would go sell advertisements together
— Dr. Jared Smith
Had the West High’s Spectator stayed around, we would be reaching almost 100 years of student journalism. However in the early 2000’s, the Spectator legacy came to an end.
Despite the Spectator being inactive for two decades, the Wahawk Insider hopes to rebuild the love and connection among the students at West and bring back the spirit that the Spectator created.
