By KAYLEE BECKER-GEORGE – On January 29, the staff of the High Arrow took a trip down to the Junior High in an attempt to unify the newspaper with the Crimson Arrow. The sponsors of this event were Mr. Larry Nath and Ms. Robyn Bailey-Orchard, who have been wanting the two staffs to be more connected for quite some time.
One of the main objectives of the day was getting the Crimson Arrow’s website up and running, and linking the websites together, not only with hyperlinks but with similar writing styles and more coordination. The High Arrow students took down handouts and presented slides to help the Crimson Arrow’s staff learn more about the vocabulary and ethics of journalism, and what it means to be a public source of news and information.
Eighth-grader member of the Crimson Arrow’s staff, Izabella Musser, says, “This was a really nice thing for both staffs and I feel like we’ll both be more connected now.”
It was also a good experience for the students of the High Arrow as well. Freshman Justin Reese states, “I think that we both took something away from this event. I think that it was good to connect with younger ages as it was for them to connect to older ages, and it was good to get new ideas.”
Chauncey Ross, a writer for the Indiana Gazette, came down to the Junior High to talk to the students of both grades about writing articles and the importance of having newspapers locally in the schools. Ross stated, “One [reason it’s important] is that the dedicated and qualified people in our trade are harder to find today than in the past.” Ross helped motivate both grades into dedicating more time to their respective papers.
The event took place for the entire school day, with the High Arrow students walking down to the Junior High in the morning and walking back at the end of the day. Food was provided for the group, and the six hours were taken up by fun activities for both groups of students, such as interview practices, talks, and presentations.
[Photo by Adriana Guth-Borowski]
Photo Caption: “Eighth-grader Izabella Musser interviews Sophomore Jorie Meil during article writing activity.”
