San Benito Elementary
YOUNG JOURNALISTS PRODUCE By Connor Allen
T
here is a new monthly newspaper in Atascadero that is starting to catch readers’ attention. It’s named the “Bengal Bugle,” produced by a student newspaper club at San Benito Elementary School of twelve aspiring journalists and graphic artists and assisted by fourth-grade teacher Kaylie Edgar. The team club is made up of fourth and fifth graders and is genuinely a studentdriven organization from selecting stories all the way down to editing. Cooper Cohen, Audrey Warren, and Karis Dadson make up the fifth graders in the club and are joined by Autumn Anderson, Alyssa Heredia, Charlotte Barazza, Luke Rigby, Coen Myracle, Bear King, Landon Chubon, Valerie Hubbard and Ariana Gomez who are in fourth grade. The newspaper began in January of 2021 as part of an idea that Ms. Edgar had to help the kids feel more connected to the school while dealing with distance learning. What began as a fun idea was quickly grabbed by the excited students who now sacrifice their lunch breaks once a week to meet and discuss their next issue and prepare for virtual publication. “It was something I had been thinking about doing; before this, I taught second grade, so this was my first year with the upper grades, which are a lot more capable of writing,” Edgar shared. “This is something that I have always wanted to do, and with distance learning and students being separated from each other, it seemed like there was no better time to start. Now they have become more connected with what is happening at the school, and it provides something for really
February 2021 | Atascadero News Magazine
our whole school to feel connected together.” Not only does the Bengal Bugle produce great articles with insight into how students are liking and adapting to distance learning, but they also include book reviews and a book club, technology updates, Do-it-yourself guides for fun crafts, birthdays and some of the best comic strips in all the county, perhaps the state. On top of producing great content for the newspaper, the Bengal Bugle also encourages students outside of the club to participate and runs articles and competitions that bring in new students. Working together, the young journalists come up with their own topics, assist each other with fresh ideas, edit one another’s work and bring it to Ms. Edgar. She helps them combine it into virtual newspapers for the entire school to enjoy. In searching for new and fun ways to innovate their paper, Ms. Edgar and the Bengal Bugle staff reached out to set up a Zoom meeting in hopes of gaining insight into the world of journalism. The students asked many questions, including how to hit deadlines and what topics are the most important and fun to write about. The Bugle staff also was very interested in how newspapers choose comics as there are a few aspiring graphic artists in the club. So far, the Bengal Bugle Newspaper Club has produced three e-editions of their newspaper and had their newest one hit virtual newsstands on March 1. Each of the three online papers can be viewed online at sb.atasusd.org/the-bengal-bugle.
atascaderomagazine.com | 17