News Talk 94.1/AM 1600 Where The Upper Cumberland Talks
Hermitage Springs School journalism students are gearing up to publish the fifth issue of its student-run newspaper.
6th through 8th Grade ELA Teacher Hayley Goad said the club came about when new principal Christina McGee wanted to place an emphasis on students having extracurricular outside of school or sports. Goad said her 12 student journalists come up with story ideas, conduct interviews, and write the stories all on their own.
“They are saying it’s helping them with public speaking skills, and confidence,” Goad said. “And they really enjoy feeling like they matter, and feeling they have a position here at school and something to contribute.”
Goad said students meet weekly to discuss how their stories are progressing and what goes into this issue’s publication. She said they base their cover stories on topics the students want the community to be aware of or if major events are happening. She said because Hermitage Springs is a K-8 school, students have found a way to include the younger grades through a monthly “Question of the Week” column.
Goad said because students know the paper will go out to the entire school and community as a whole, they strive to make the work as professional as possible. She said as their instructor, she only helps with the occasional word suggestion and to format the paper itself.
“It’s wonderful and it has surpassed my expectations,” Goad said. “I had high expectations for them to start with but they have really surpassed that. I’m really impressed with the pride they take in their work and they want to make sure it sounds right. And they know it’s going out into the community so they want to make sure the presentation is right.”
Goad said the next issue is set to publish on Friday, January 27th.
