Getting the scoop on achievement
Published on March 26th, 2003
STONEHAM, MA - There were ink-smudged little fingers and questions abounding in Maureen Welsh's third grade class at the South School this week as members of the Stoneham Independent staff visited for a Jr. Achievement lesson. News Editor Joe Haggerty and Photographer David Sokol, along with Parent Teacher volunteer Rebecca Brennan, took some time out to explain the whens, wheres and hows of the newspaper world.
While the kids sat and listened to the importance of a lead sentence, and the different jobs of the reporter, editor, photographer, publisher, and advertising people, there was one question that fascinated the class and left them bursting with exclamations of "Wow."
"You can get into the Celtics locker room and meet the players," asked an elated Henry O'Connell. "Can you get me Antoine Walker's autograph?"
O'Connell was a little non-plussed when the concept of professionalism, and creating an equal footing with your interview subject was later discussed.
Henry and the rest of the class did learn much during the presentation about the world of journalism. They learned about being impartial and fair to all sides, the astounding number of people it takes to put a newspaper out, and all about the different sections of the newspaper.
The children showed what they had learned when they were asked to sum up the lesson in a few sentences at the end of the class.
"We learned today in class about reporters," wrote Felicia Ingianni. "I learned it is a lot of work to be a reporter."
Melissa Giordano also added "I learned that you have to be a good speller to be a reporter."
But the overwhelming majority of the class was very impressed with the knowledge that reporting could take them to exotic locales and could put them in contact with exciting people making a difference in the world. Or it could just get you in to sports games.
"Today, March 21, 2003 Mr. Haggerty and Mr. Sokol came to our class. Everything was very exciting, but I found out that photographers and reporters get something called a press pass," wrote the sports-minded Henry. "All you have to do is show it to the ticket person and you can go to games for free! You also get to go to the dressing rooms and take pictures and interviews; the only bad thing is that you can't get autographs."
Bryan Pacheco was similarly impressed, although he insisted that Stoneham Independent sports writer Steve Pacheco had stolen his last name.
"Reporters get to go in free sports games!" wrote Bryan. "Reporters can go in the locker rooms and ask questions."
Though they were bowled over by the benefits of covering sports for a living, Brennan said that the kids were gaining much from the Jr. Achievement program.
"This is such an invaluable program because it allows the kids to get a real up-close view of different professions," said Brennan. "The kids end up wanting to be something new every week depending on who is coming to visit."
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