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Fellows learn about themselves
in school volunteer work

06.23.05

By Laine Norton
Special to freedomforum.org

Reporter looks beyond headlines, finds good in kids

By Laine Norton Special to freedomforum.org

"Five teens charged in beating of homeless man." The June 22, 2001, headline told of students from John F. Kennedy High School in Paterson, N.J., who beat to death a homeless man. Kibret Markos   Shortly after starting a job at the Herald News in West Paterson, Reporter Kibret Markos heard the reports about JFK High School — where he would spend time as a volunteer one day a week for a year. When Markos first walked through the doors of the high school, he was met by security. "There were guards in the hallways almost every 30 feet, and I would be stopped and questioned as to what I was doing there. It was the first time I saw so much security in a school," he said. Markos was there to assist students working on the high school newspaper, The Torch. Through an ASNE/APME fellowship, Markos — now a courts reporter for The Record in Hackensack — not only helped students writing stories for the school newspaper but he learned a lesson about perspective and the power of headlines. Despite Paterson's reputation as a "rough town" and JFK's past security problems, Markos said, he was immediately surprised by the level of precautions. He had written about schools in four suburban towns, but he never had seen security like that at JFK. What did Markos find once inside? "That image was exaggerated," he said. "The school is not exactly what the publicity from the killing made it look like." JFK's reputation for violence grew after the killing, and Markos admitted having the same view of the school at first. "At the time, JFK's name as a struggling inner-city school, along with the killing, eclipsed whatever good the school and the students were doing. I thought that was unfair to the kids." He was able to see something else in a small group of juniors working for the school newspaper. "I met some pretty intelligent kids who could learn really fast. It's not fair that this image is how they are described all of the time," he said. "Trouble-makers are always the exception — even in a school like that. Most of the students are just students." Laine Norton, a University of Nebraska student, is a Summer 2005 intern at the Freedom Forum in Arlington, Va.

The echo of locker doors slamming and excited chatter through the halls were almost deafening, until the shrill ring of a bell indicated that it was time for the next class.

Sue Stock

Amid the noise was Sue Stock, a reporter who found herself returning to high school as part of the ASNE/APME Fellows program.

Then a reporter for the Lansing (Mich.) State Journal, Stock took an opportunity to share her passion for journalism with the staff of Sexton High School’s newspaper, The Zodiac.

As a requirement of the two-year program, Fellows — journalists of color at small newspapers — work with high school newspaper programs across the country. Some Fellows take time to speak with students of all ages about a career in journalism.

The volunteer work was designed to help interest young people in careers in journalism. But along the way, the Fellows themselves have been affected.

Now a retail reporter for The News & Observer in Raleigh, N.C., Stock visited The Zodiac’s newspaper class monthly during her 2 ½-year stay in Michigan. "It was really scary going to high school — bells ringing, kids running around. … It took me a while to get used to walking back into that world," she said.

While at school, Stock discussed newspaper page layout, the inverted-pyramid writing style, how to find a news hook in a story and other basic principles of journalism. She also arranged for students to tour the State Journal and see the printing press.

After her first year with The Zodiac, Stock found out that the paper received a Quill and Scroll International first place award for superior achievement.

"It was nice. It makes you feel like they learned something and they got to see the benefit of it. I had already known that they improved a lot; that their paper had improved, but it was nice to get real recognition."

Tilde Herrera

Stock’s experience allowed her to give more to the students. "It’s all experience, right? No matter what you’re doing, as long as you’re working, you’re gaining more experience, more knowledge," she said. "The more you’ve done, the more you can speak about.

"I think it is a good requirement of the fellowship. You’re giving something back, but I think it probably helps the Fellows as much as the students," she said.

Tilde Herrera, a reporter at the Bradenton (Fla.) Herald, worked with the newspaper staff and adviser for the Macahi, the Manatee High School newspaper. She helped students practice interviewing and assisted the staff in putting together a story.

Herrera said the experience helped her realize how important it is to tell a story. "A lot of the ways you put together a story can be rudimentary and boring," she said. "The writing I’m trying to do is to tell a story but still report the news."

A photographer at the Athens (Ga.) Banner-Herald, Rachel Rique was able to help jump-start a program that enabled local high school students to work on their own page in the newspaper. "Team Page" runs once a week, and Rique was there in its infancy to help set up photo assignments and give advice to young photographers.

"It definitely enhanced (the fellowship experience)," Rique said. "It was something really different and really meaningful that I could do."

Victor Cristales

In Texas, Victor Cristales, a photographer for the Abilene Reporter-News, took a different approach to the requirement.

"It made me take stock of the things I’d done right so far," Cristales said. "I hadn’t ever stopped to think about that until someone asked me, ‘What did you do?’ "

Cristales helped a high school student develop her passion for photography after she curiously approached him at a restaurant inquiring about his camera and equipment. Cristales continued meeting with the student and critiqued her portfolio. He said he was able to see similarities between the girl’s photos and his own when he was at the same stage.

"I encouraged her to continue building pictures," Cristales said. "You could tell she had an eye for building images; she was trying to tell a story with her pictures."

Reporter Jonathan Bethely of the Chronicle-Tribune in Marion, Ind., spoke with classes ranging from second to seventh grade about his job as a journalist.

"To be able to go inside a classroom and talk to kids about journalism is my way of giving back, and it feels good," Bethely said.

"If one kid in the class is interested in journalism, that one kid represents me and the experience I had when I was that age," he said. "It feels really good."

Bethely said he was surprised, however, with how little one fifth-grade class knew about those who have played roles in Black history. He was disappointed that names such as Nelson Mandela were foreign to the students.

Jonathan Bethely

"Coming from a big city, I was exposed to a lot of things folks here aren’t exposed to," Bethely said. "It makes me want to do what I’ve done even more."

But Bethely said the young people taught him optimism. "There are some young people out there who are genuinely interested in making something of themselves. Their energy is refreshing."

The high school journalism volunteer experience reminded Stock why she started out in journalism.

"We get cynical and caught up in the day-to-day grind of being a reporter/editor," she said. "They are kids who are just excited about the profession, and that’s refreshing. It makes you remember when that was you."

Laine Norton, a University of Nebraska student, is a Summer 2005 intern at the Freedom Forum in Arlington, Va.