Founded in 1962, Rank & File is a public forum for students of George C. Marshall High School. Students on the Rank & File staff produce about eight issues a year of a monthly news magazine while also frequently updating an online news site and associated social media accounts.

The content of the publication is selected, produced, and edited entirely by student leaders, who are responsible for all editorial and business decisions. Marshall’s student journalists also go out into the community to sell the ads and subscriptions that make it possible to print their publication each month.

Students can join the Rank & File staff by enrolling in Marshall’s Journalism courses. Students in Journalism 1 learn all the skills necessary to generate leads, conduct interviews, write stories, take photos, lay out pages, and more. In Journalism 2 and beyond, students then put those skills to work as official reporters, photographers, and editors.

Rank & File has been consistently recognized as one of the state and country’s top student news publications. It was a finalist in 2018 for the Columbia Scholastic Press Association’s prestigious Crown Award and has received numerous Trophy Class ratings from the Virginia High School League. Rank & File is also a two-time recipient of the VHSL’s Charles E. Savedge Award for Sustained Excellence in Scholastic Journalism, most recently in 2017.

Students, parents, and other community members are invited to read Rank & File’s online edition at gcmnews.net.

For more information on how to support our student journalism program, download a subscription form or advertising contract.

To learn more about taking a journalism course at Marshall, click here!

Newspaper Adviser: Daniel Reinish | @email