By Staff Reports
Being a journalist is an extremely rewarding profession, providing timeless memories that will last for a lifetime. From meeting new people, to covering special events, the job is best described as a chance to move away from the mundane and charter into the exciting, ever-changing landscape of our society.
Eventually, those who write now will move on, retire, and leave behind the job that they loved for so long. But, before they do that, it’s important to inspire that same love into younger generations – so that they can one day do the same.
This type of inspiration was seen on Monday, January 27 as members of the Elmore Autauga News, Carla Wilson and Andrew Edwards, took a trip to Wetumpka Middle School and visited Mrs. Powell-Williams 7th grade communications class.
With the EAN’s help, the class was able to learn some of the basics of article writing, such as the proper way to write a headline, the inverted pyramid, and the whos, whats, whens, wheres and whys of writing a story.
Not only that, the class had the opportunity to help write their very own article – this article, starting with the headline that was inspired by Anna Hopson.
“Getting Children Interested in the Future of News” by Yahmaire H. Quinones-Coll, and “Two Members from Elmore/Autauga News Come to Wetumpka Middle School to Share Knowledge About the News Industry” by Baylie Wilson were also some extremely viable headlines that were read out loud as well.
The class then broke into groups and discussed the “Five W’s” of writing, each crafting their own reasoning as to “why” the Elmore Autauga News came to their classroom.
So, what exactly did the children write? Why did they think the Elmore/Autauga News came to their classroom?
“So WMS students can learn how to write a proper newspaper article and give us a chance to brainstorm ideas about newspaper stories,” said Ariel Davis.
“To help MWS students get a look inside a professional newspaper,” said Alana Flores.
“They came to help spark the minds of young teens into future careers,” said Ava Baxley.
“So we can learn about newspapers and to inspire young children to pursue the profession,” said John Belew.
All of the children were extremely cooperative with the exercise and each gave their own unique answer as to why members of the local newspaper came.
On top of that, they were all correct!
In all, EAN wanted to show the WMS students that a profession in the media business is not one to shy away from, but rather, something to of which to be a part.
Those students in Mrs. Powell-Williams class seemed to be on the right path, because without their help, this story would not have been made possible.
Contributors to this article were Chloe Taylor, Ava Baxley, Christopher Polk, Garrett Myers, Anna Hopson, Cameron Lewis, Tudrius Hetherington, Julian Johnson, Alana Eaves, Ariel Davis, Jacob Dear, Sydney Slupper, Ivy Sprayberry, Jada Walker, Noah Skipper, Alphonso Moncrief, Evan Dillard, Lily Davenport, Christian Terrones, Auja Daniels, Jada Frazier, Baylie Wilson, John Belew, and Yahmarie H. Quinones-Coll.
