As one of the more active members of The Roundup, I have always found learning more about this news organization’s history fascinating. Since the first article was published on this website more than a decade ago, this paper has an illustrious history full of many outstanding achievements and numerous awards. I seek to document this history and some of the lesser-known history of this paper. This series will be known as “Roundup Exploration.”

What is the most exclusive title you can have on The Roundup? What is a position that only a handful of students will ever have? It might be the Editor-In-Chief or the Managing Editor. But there is one exclusive of any of them, and that is being The Roundup’s top writer. To have the most articles written for the organization reflects someone’s ability to keep a high level of dedication that needs to be seen by 600 or so other writers and editors. In The Roundup’s 12 year history, there has been a total of five writers who have received this noble honor. We will go over who they were and a bit of their history.

To simplify things, we will start toward the school year in 2011. Although The Roundup was operational long before 2011, this is an excellent place to start since 2011 saw the first batch of Roundup writers graduate. Ending the 2011 school year saw a rising senior, Clark Durham, become the top writer for The Roundup, with 17 articles on April 27, 2011. The article was titled Jesuit Community, Book Editor Weigh on Bush Memoirs. The article was about the Jesuit community’s reaction to ex-president Bush’s memoirs, interviewing fellow Roundup editors and writers.

Clark would end his career with The Roundup with 49 articles for The Roundup (he currently has the 10th most articles for The Roundup). He is The Roundup’s first top writer and would have this title for 301 days. 

Less than a year later, sports editor for The Roundup Aiden Johnson 13′ would break this record. On February 22, 2013, Aiden Johnson broke the record surpassing Clark’s 49 articles. His 50th article would be titled Jesuit Graduate Wins Superbowl. The article concerns former NFL player & Jesuit Alumni Reggie Stephens becoming the first Jesuit Alumni to win the Superbowl. It would reflect on his life at Jesuit and get former coaches and teachers’ thoughts about him.

Aiden Johnson would build a name on The Roundup for his constant sports coverage, both Jesuit and non-Jesuit related. He would primarily write about Jesuit football news. Still, he would be bold in writing about other subjects that were non-sports related. Aiden would hold this title for two years, 11 months, 18 days, and around 1082 days. 

[dd-parallax img=”https://jesuitroundup.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/133437940.jpg” height=”500″ speed=”2″ z-index=”2″ position=”center” offset=”true” text-pos=”bottom”]Jack Durham ’16[/dd-parallax]

It would not be till 2016 when Jack Durham’s 16′ would break Aiden Johnson’s record. On February 8, 2016, Jack Durham overtook Aiden Johnson’s long-standing record of 52 articles with 53 articles. The article was titled Marco Rubio: The GOP’s Last Hope, a political piece about US senator Marco Rubio. Jack would end his Roundup career with 56 articles.

Jack would be the last non-Managing or Editor-In-Chief to have this title. The former sports editor also still has the most articles written for a non Managing or Editor-In-Chief for The Roundup. While Jack wrote primarily about Jesuit sports, he also wrote about many other things, including politics, his life, and the Jesuit community. He would hold this title for a total of 1 year, ten months, and one day / or 670 days.

The next Roundup member to take this title would be Managing Editor Connor Thomas, 18′. Unlike many other writers, Connor Thomas was much more diverse in the content he wrote about. Mainly focused on the Jesuit community, he would write articles about Jesuit sports, student council pieces, and stories about different clubs and students. Connor also ran a podcast for The Roundup titled The Roundup Podcast that would make up a lot of his later work. On December 8, 2017, he broke the record of 56 articles with a podcast titled The Roundup Podcast Ep. 8 – B-Ball Szn.

Connor Thomas would end his career with The Roundup with 69 articles/podcasts. He would take the record and add some more to it with 12 more pieces after breaking the record. He would hold two years, ten months, and 23 days /1058 days, and his record would stay forever with other writers like Trey Ashmore (66) and Jack Corrales (65), barely missing his record. But there is one more person who would break the record and set a new bar for what it means to be the best writer for The Roundup.

Jason Davis 21′ (Managing Editor) did not just break the record for the most articles written in The Roundup. He crushed it. On October 30, 2020, Jason would write his 70th article, becoming the first writer to do this and breaking Connor Thomas’s long-standing record. The article was titled Jesuit Recognizes 2020 National Merit and AP Scholars, and it was simply about recognizing the Jesuit 2020 National Merit and AP Scholars.

Jason would end his career with The Roundup with 87 articles. Jason is the most diverse writer in the content he writes about. Unlike all the others on this list, football did not lift his writing career. Although he would write about sports, mainly soccer, he would write about many non-Jesuit articles, from movie reviews to spotlighting specific musicians. Jason wrote about many different things. Jason Davis is currently the Emeritus Managing Editor for The Roundup, which is a fancy way of saying he is the Alumni editor for The Roundup. He has held this title for two years, three months, and 18 days / 840 days, but if you ask me, he will most likely be the one to hold this record for the longest.

Conclusion

I think the question now, is if anyone today can break this record. The three writers that I believe might have a chance of breaking these records:

1. Me (Austin Keith) with 48 articles.
2. Anthony Nguyen with 41 articles.
3. Ben Woodard (sophomore) with 30 articles

While all these writers are very good, and have written a lot of articles, they are still very far away from catching Jason’s record. It just is very hard to be constant and just write articles. The life of a high schooler can just be very busy, and sometimes you just have other things to do. But in the end, anything is possible.