What you find in the high school newspaper

Today, I took some time to read three online high school newspapers. Take some time and you will discover some great things in high school newspapers.  Check out Pelladium (Iowa), The Hillel Periscope (Florida) and Neirad (Connecticut) to see what is on the minds of teens. What I discovered was deligthful, thought provoking and intelligent.

I learned about the impact of a local man has on his town with his display of Christmas lights and the soon demise of this beautiful town tradition, the similarities between American Thanksgiving and the Jewish celebration of Sukkot – both celebrate family and thankfulness, and the story of how a teacher raised $3,000 by running the New York Marathon.

Although these seem ordinary at the outset, I saw some other underlying and powerful issues in theses stories.  I saw celebration in all three stories of individuals, traditions and selflessness that only a teen writer could discover.  Adults are too busy fighting over what students can and cannot publish to see the real stories.  Yet, teens still have the courage to go out and get them.

Each story was compelling, informative and focused on getting the story just right for the readership.  Yes, there were other hard news stories, but the heart of all three papers rests in the intelligence of teens who dare to go out and get the story for the reader.

While we often read of teens being censored for their thoughts, I was so delighted to read the rich work of these students because these stories ARE JOURNALISM. No, not all stories were TEXT.  Some used other mediums, but they all told stories. These writers tell the story behind the story because they are journalists and that (with apologies to Robert Frost) makes all the difference.

Access these stories at:

http://pelladium.com/

http://www.hillelperiscope.org/

http://darienps.org/neirad/