About a dozen young men cluster around a table. All of them sport clean-cut hairdos and crisp-collared shirts.
    “OK guys, we’re going to start with story updates,” says Ryan Constantine, a dark-haired teen seated near the head of the table. He’s managing editor of “The ReMarker”, the student newspaper at St. Mark’s School of Texas, and this is how he begins most weekly editorial meetings.
    Per his request, the boys rattle off their progress reports on their story assignments. One teen talks about his story outlining a new student leadership program. He explains how he went into the story thinking the program was stagnant, but after a few interviews, realized a lot more was happening beneath the surface.
    “So what does this tell us?”
It’s a question gently posed by Ray Westbrook, the journalism teacher here.
“It tells us that sometimes, stories take us in a completely different direction than we originally thought they would. Our challenge then, is to make the best use of what we learn through our reporting.”
    The boys give a collective nod of understanding.
    This is just one of the ways Westbrook subtly guides his students, nudging them to reach out and grasp those lessons. 
    “I try to not interfere too much, though, because they need to learn how to do it themselves, and they are very capable.”
    Or, as Constantine puts it, “He gives you the keys to the car and tells you to drive.”    
    It’s this type of co-pilot teaching approach, in part, that has helped “The ReMarker” make a name for itself. In the eight years Westbrook has been at St. Mark’s, the newspaper has won a Pacemaker Award from the National Scholastic Press Association, and five Gold Crown Awards from the Columbia Scholastic Press Association — two of the most prestigious honors a high school newspaper can receive. In the 47 years before Westbrook arrived, “The ReMarker” didn’t win any of those honors.
    “All eight years I’ve been here, we’ve won something pretty nice. But it’s really the students who make the newspaper what it is. I’m just here for the ride.”
    Westbrook would never admit he’s a big reason for all of the success “The ReMarker” has seen, but his students will.
    “Before him, the campus joke was that the school’s headmaster kept a bottle of Rolaids on his desk because he never knew what the paper was going to come out with next,” Constantine says with a chuckle. “But now, Ray has brought a real prestige to ‘The ReMarker.’ He has shown us that the newspaper can mean something positive, not just to our school, but to the St. Mark’s community as a whole. It wasn’t that there was total apathy before, but Ray has given us that direction we lacked.”
    Arnold Holtberg, the headmaster of St. Mark’s, echoes those thoughts. He has been at the school 16 years, ample time to witness the impact Westbrook has had on his campus.
    “He has coached the boys along magnificently,” he says. “Ray is a professional who knows his field and has the ability to inspire students to be their very best. Those students are not playing the role of journalists — they are being journalists.”
    A big part of what sets “The ReMarker” apart from the rest of the pack is the caliber of its stories. The students on staff, typically about 50, have tackled some hard-hitting stories such as homosexuality on campus, teenage pregnancy, drug addiction and date rape — all quite heavy topics for teenagers to be writing about.
    “But we don’t just do it for shock value,” Constantine says. “We do it because these are real issues we face on campus and therefore, we’re obligated to report on them.
    “I think people assume life at private school is always perfect and that we live in this bubble. But that’s not the case, and anyone who reads our paper knows that.
    “I’ve talked to kids at other high schools, and they tell me how censored they are. I can’t even relate to that. It’s awesome — I can write about what I feel should be written about. I think that says a lot about the administration’s confidence in us.”
    Constantine hit the nail on the head: The administration at this school allows the newspaper free reign, but that’s built on a solid foundation of trust.
    “We believe students need to have freedom, as long as they handle it responsibly,” Holtberg says. “The students need to have the ability to pursue the things they’re passionate about, and report on them.”
    Indeed, that delicate balance of trust and freedom has allowed “The Remarker” to become more than just a student newspaper. In essence, it’s flourished into a bona fide community publication. 
    “It’s really quite amazing, but I have parents I don’t know come up and talk to me about stories we’ve run,” Westbrook says. “You always want your work to be appreciated — but as a journalist, you really want an audience. People in the St. Mark’s community really read and talk about what these boys put out there.
    “Our goal, which I think we’re achieving, is to provide a quality publication for our community, which extends further than our students. We have teachers, alumni, parents and neighbors who read and appreciate our newspaper.
     “When I think about all that, I am proud — just very, very proud.”