feature stories

Student journalists have the write stuff

by Jim Callaghan

May 24, 2007 4:18 PM

UFTers helping shape next generation of news reporters, editors

Across the five boroughs, journalists gather every day to write stories, discuss editorials, take photos, lay out newspapers and spread the news to their readers.

It’s not an easy task, with the biggest pressure being the adherence to accuracy. But it’s fun, rewarding and educational. The journalists wake up every morning knowing that their work will be read by others. They will get letters from readers, praising them or taking issue with something that they have written.

Undaunted, these journalists will learn from their mistakes and strive for excellence. They understand something about words: They have meaning. They know that good writing makes people stop and think. They understand that a powerful photo serves to form an opinion in the reader’s mind and, most of all, they are aware that without a sharp layout, they will lose the reader before the page is turned.

All of this is happening in many of the city’s schools every day, under the guidance of UFT members.

This is the story of three of those schools.

At Curtis HS in Staten Island, named after the abolitionist writer George Curtis, teacher Cadence Turner, who lives on the same street as the school, is busy overseeing the production of a monthly newspaper called The Curtis Log as well as a 308-page yearbook, all under the roof of the Journalism Institute.

On the walls of the room are the title of each article, its due date and the name of the student writer, editor and photographer. It’s as busy as any professional newsroom, without the cynicism. When a guest speaker arrives to talk about his writing experiences, the students pepper him with probing questions and tougher follow-ups. It is clear to a visitor that these students know a whole lot about journalism the right way.

The Curtis students are enthusiastic and dedicated. Turner exudes such traits. She is open to any question and always seems to have a patient answer for what might sound to others like an excuse for an assignment not completed. “She never gets flustered,” said one of her writers.

The high school journalists are encouraged to tackle serious subjects, including the fact that Curtis, the oldest high school in the borough (built in 1904), is operating at an astounding 168 percent of capacity. One block away is McKee HS which is at 78 percent of capacity. The students wonder why Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Chancellor Joel Klein can’t figure out a way to use McKee’s empty classrooms when a neighboring school is jammed.

Turner said she has learned over the years “never to underestimate” her students’ capacity for compassion. She says she is also amazed at her students’ tremendous capacity to succeed and their ability to overcome incredible obstacles. “Many of my students come from poverty, broken homes and unsafe environments, yet they are determined to do well,” she said. So well that the students even sold $20,000 worth of yearbook advertising to help defray the printing costs.

Elinore Kaplan, the journalism teacher at the Queens HS of Science on the campus of York College, hard by the Jamaica station of the Long Island Rail Road, is also a stickler for accuracy and fairness, as she reminds her students on a regular basis. Two of them have been selected to interview a reporter from the New York Teacher and they are prepared with their notebooks. They, too, ask insightful questions about the reporter’s career, highlights and lowlights and why he became a writer. The floor is thrown open for questions from the rest of the class, with Kaplan interjecting her observations and reminding the writers of something they learned in class. The best part of her job, Kaplan says, is that she sees students grow into a real production team. “They take on all the jobs and grow into them, recognizing and carrying out their individual responsibilities,” she said.

Kaplan is proud that the student writers and editors are able to work together every day and respect one another’s individual voices. “In order to produce the newspaper,” she said, “they must be truly independent and interdependent and they are.” Kaplan also said that working on the school newspaper helps students “find their voice.” Her voice was honed while working for newspapers, magazines and advertising agencies. “The atmosphere at those places was always electric,” she said. “There was dynamism, an excitement, in the air that was just wonderful to breathe.”

Students always bring a fresh perspective, Kaplan said, “not only to the writing, art and photography, but to their approach to the stories. The newspaper is always evolving and developing. Every year the students shape it further and make it better.” She said that even though she can teach them the basics of technology, from design and photo software to digital cameras, “they learn and apply and go much, much further than I ever can.”

In the Bensonhurst neighborhood of Brooklyn, the students at IS 281 not only write and edit the school paper, they also do the layout and print it in a room adjoining their classroom. Teacher Camille Sperrazza is the guiding force behind this endeavor — her junior high school journalists produce an issue of the paper every month during the school year. They take turns as the editor-in-chief and when the stories are written and edited, they take their work to printer Stan Kuperstein, who retired but is back in the building as an F-status teacher. “This is better than watching TV,” he said about working with the young writers.

Sperrazza’s students are anxious to interview a writer who is there to do a story about them. But first he must be grilled — gently, of course — with questions ranging from what his best story was to what his salary is. One off-handed comment about the physical danger of reporting about gangsters whetted their appetite for more information, demanding that Sperrazza find out the whole story.

On a desk in the journalism room is a manual of style and usage; the walls are filled with award certificates and rules for writing and assignments. The Post-It notes tell the story: “News,” “Features,” “Editorials,” “Cartoons.” In a neat file on a desk are folders marked “articles in progress.” An editor tells a visitor: “We have the best news in the country. Team work.”

Sperrazza said she learns from her students every day. “We share article ideas for upcoming issues. I learn what’s important to them, how they feel about world events and what’s happening in our community.” Sperrazza has a saying that she uses with her students on a regular basis: “You are the author of your own life story.” One student summed it up in a different way: “We are so lucky to have Ms. Sperrazza help us with our life stories.”