8 - North Countryman
www.northcountryman.com
December 18, 2010
Students getting hands-on look at world of journalism Peru High School class unveils ‘The Pride’ newsletter By Jeremiah S. Papineau jeremiah@denpubs.com PERU — Students from Julia Miller ’s journalism class are getting a glimpse of what it’s like to publish a newspaper. This school year, the Peru High School class has begun producing The Pride, a monthly online newsletter following the happenings in and around the Peru Central School District. “The kids were really nervous in the very first couple weeks,” said Miller. “Then, once they saw they were able to write about things they’re interested in and that somebody was going to see it, that’s when it really took off.” The focus of the class has been to introduce students to the world of journalism, acclimating them with writing news stories, covering photo assignments, proofreading copy, and — above all — meeting deadlines. “This class give them a hands-on kind of approach to what they need to be able to do outside of school,” said Miller. “Deadlines, especially, are incredibly important and they understand that. It’s starting to carry over to their other subjects, too. That’s what I’m glad to see.” The class most recently published its second newsletter, with Miller starting to see the students gain momentum in their grasp of reporting on education, sports and lifestyle topics and production of the overall newsletter. “With the first issue, we had tons of lead time,” said Miller, referring to the first newsletter published in November. “This
D&D Meats From page 1 Most of the roofs are done.” Dutil said she plans to have the store up and running by mid-March. Although, it won’t look the same as it did prior to the fire. “It’s going to look totally different,” she said. “It’s going to be all Adirondack decor. We’re going to have a different kind of pizza oven than we had. It’s going to be a lot different.” The store’s siding will also match the Dutil’s home, which is connected to the store. Although Dutil admits the store didn’t look too bad from the outside, it was in fact “totaled.” “The back of the store is completely gone and everything in the store had to be completely gutted,” she said. They also lost two apartments, but with the renovations will be able to add a third. Their house, which suffered about $36,000 in smoke damage, is also coming along. “Everything had to be repainted and recarpeted,” said Dutil. “A lot of clothing and stuff and things like that we just had to throw out. You can wash them so many times, but it still doesn’t come out.” Despite the losses, the Dutils are still out
Journalism class teacher Julia Miller discusses layout with students for The Pride, Peru High School’s monthly on-line newsletter. Joining her at the computer are, from left, Phil Covel, Noah Phillips, Erika Diskin, and Kyle Kemp. Photo by Jeremiah S. Papineau
time, there was a three-week deadline for them, which took getting used to. They had to understand the importance of meeting deadlines but also that they didn’t want to put out a product that wasn’t as good as the last one.” What impresses Miller most is how students have been stepping up to the plate when called upon, she said. “What’s really impressive to me is the leadership roles they’re willing to take, that they volunteer for,” said Miller. “They all want to be in charge of something. It’s great to see.” and about in the community. Most recently, they provided Mooers Elementary School with an Exxon Mobil Grant of $750. “Being my home school and my children’s home school, that’s why we chose it,” said Dutil. “And I grew up in the village of Mooers. In fact, my best friend’s dad was our principal.” Dennis Rasco, principal at Mooers Elementary, said he appreciates the support D & D Meats has always provided the school. “For them to pursue the completion of this grant application, in light of the fact that they recently had a fire, I think is just amazing,” he said. The grant will be used to support early literacy efforts. On June 18, the store will celebrate 30 years in business with their Community Day, which will also serve as the grand reopening of the store. They also are still providing their Jeezum Crow Beef Jerky, which they often send to troops overseas. With everything on the right track for the store’s completion, Dutil said the only thing insurance didn’t cover was some of the equipment in the store, which they are looking to the community for help with. “We had a lot of expensive equipment,” said Dutil. “Now we’re on the hunt for a lot of second-hand equipment because there’s
Sophomore Erika Diskin, who serves as general editor for The Pride, said the class had been an eye-opener for her, providing a good first look at the career field into which she one day hopes to go. “I really want to be a writer, hopefully for a magazine or a newspaper,” said Diskin. “And, I think the thing that’s been helpful to me most is how to write news ledes because the ledes are what hook the reader. Knowing things like that help because if I do get a job in journalism, I won’t go into it not knowing
what to do. I’ll have some experience.” “I came into the class not really knowing much about journalism and just started to really get into it in the first week,” said sophomore Noah Phillips, the paper ’s associate editor. “I just like the challenges of making the school newspaper. Everyone works well together and we’re pretty happy doing it.” Though Diskin’s and Phillips’ passions lie with writing and editing, other students like sophomore Claira Knighton have found their interest to be in the actual production of the paper. “I love making layouts. I’m an addict with graphic design,” said Knighton. “Anything that has to do with Photoshop or drawing or painting — stuff like that — is just my thing.” Though Knighton admitted she wasn’t giving a career in journalism a serious thought before taking Miller ’s class, she said she’ll now be taking it into consideration when applying for college in a couple years. “It’s got me thinking,” she said. Sophomore Brianna Pena said the class has also increased her interest in pursuing journalism after high school. “Now, I know what to expect when I go to college and I’ll at least have something under my belt when I decide to go into journalism in the future,” she said. adding she’s enjoyed interviewing people most of all. “I’m actually talking to people I might never have talked to before and it’s because of journalism.” (Editor’s Note: The Pride may be viewed on-line by visiting www.perucsd.org, following the link to the Peru High School page and clicking on the corresponding link for the on-line newsletter.)
D & D Meats in West Chazy will hopefully be up and running again by mid-March after a devastating fire totaled it in September. Photo by Sarah L. Cronk
no way we’re going to be able to replace that amount of equipment.” Some of the equipment includes dehydrators for the beef jerky, a sausage stuffer, cash register, patty machine, pizza oven and fryer. “We have located some, but we’re still in
the search. We probably have maybe a third of what we need,” she said. “We still have a long way to go on the equipment. You’re not going to find it all overnight.” If able to help D & D Meats recover some of the equipment, contact Dutil at 493-2300.