Our plan
826 staff and volunteers generate opportunities for the student SUN staff writers to pitch story ideas, formulate sections of their newspaper issue by issue, and write and edit their pieces using an apprenticeship-style approach. The students learn tactics to skillfully interview their subjects and to generate newsworthy questions from real reporters working in the field. Volunteers provide an elevated level of journalistic teaching, drawing students into the qualities of what makes for a good news story. Students learn the processes for writing a catchy lead and for generating headlines to draw in their readers. From the start of each issue, students are writing with their audience in mind. This authentic journalism process gives Everett Middle School students the fortuity to interview important local political and sports figures and gain the immense satisfaction of seeing their words in print. 826 Valencia leverages its connections to provide extraordinary experiences for the students. For each issue, volunteers and students host a special Q & A press conference with a prominent or interesting local figure. Professional journalist mentors generate special interviews with celebrities and TV or radio personalities.
What we did
On average, seven adult volunteers and our staff spend three hours once per week, three times a year with the SUN student staff to craft, edit, publish, promote and distribute the 1,000 issues per copy. Students write between five and six drafts before submitting their final articles to their editorial board. Over the course of the eight week production period, students are shooting and gathering complementary photos and generating artwork for their paper. Students illustrate cartoons and search for any special insets like maps or information-design with the guidance of practiced volunteers. The tight turn-around process on edits for students writing in Spanish presents a challenge, as does the difficulty in attracting Spanish biliterate journalists. In previous years, students have interviewed a local ghost hunter from the Discovery Channel asked to prove or disprove their school's rumored 3rd floor haunting, a video game magazine editor about what makes for trends in video game consumers and a Pixar animator about how his doodling habit pointed him to discover art classes (and later a career in animation). In each issue, the journalists focus on local school-wide issues, current global affairs, and special features to attract the attention of the student body, parents, and other community members.
Our results
Each issue release is celebrated with school-wide distribution and readership during class. Students are read there and then, with classroom teachers featuring and discussing the student work. All 529 Everett students are electric, searching for pictures of themselves at soccer games, dances, spelling bees, in capoeria class, etc. Teachers and other school support staff search for articles about the students in their classes. The SUN student staff keeps celebrity profiles secret until the paper is hot off the press and in the hands of their 6th - 8th grade friends, so students wait to see a photo and interview of Carlos Mencia until presstime. The buzz is exciting and the student journalists celebrate their work with a pizza party. In previous years, the SUN included a special edition as part of the "Cartooning With Students" project, in which local professional artists teamed with 826 students to create comic and cartoon-themed stories. In addition, the projects were on view in an exhibition at the San Francisco Cartoon Art Museum. Focusing on real readership and publishing is critical. Each year since its inception, students from the SUN have earned gold, silver and bronze "Young at Art" San Francisco-wide literary arts awards for journalism. By the end of each school year, the team of journalists has developed a hefty portfolio for their high school applications, have celebrated their works internally and have been celebrated by the outside literary community. And have proven that they are, above all else, journalists.
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