Roughly 15 Holy Redeemer middle school students report for Holy Redeemer Gazette, and an abundance of time and effort is used to keep everything running smoothly. Meetings take place weekly on Tuesdays for about 1 hour after school. Meeting plans are made ahead of time by editor-in-chief Finn Rose, and updates about schedules are posted on the Holy Redeemer Gazette Google Classroom.
The meeting begins around 3:15 with attendance, as snacks are passed out to seemingly starving reporters. Any announcements about the meeting are made right after. This should be the quietest part of the meeting, as it’s considered rude to talk with food in your mouth.
The next segment is called News Flash, and it contains a lesson or activity about journalism. The editor-in-chief will decide and plan the assignment before the meeting. The goal of News Flash is to teach reporters what they need to know about journalism while leaving time for the rest of the meeting.
In some meetings, the next activity will be presenting story pitches. These pitches are written using a pitch form by Holy Redeemer Gazette writers. Pitch forms can be filled out at any time by any writer. Writers will present an idea for a story that they would like to write. The editor-in-chief, with the assistance of Mr. Dempsey, the staff advisor, will decide if the article is ready to write. The purpose of the pitch forms is to get a second opinion on whether the proposed article is newsworthy and worth writing, and to share the idea with the rest of the group.
Next, it’s time to start writing. This free writing time is for writers to write the article that they have pitched and to get help from their editors. This is where the majority of article writing happens. During this time, the photographers will group together to work on current tasks and assign photographers to articles. Photographers also complete assignments during this time to improve their skills.
Lastly, the meeting closes with any essential information for next week and reporters leave. Leaving is the saddest part of the meeting, but the reporting continues outside of meetings. Between meetings, reporters continue to work on their articles, and any events being reported on are attended by at least one writer and one photographer. Editors revise articles in between meetings, and pass them back at the next opportunity.
All the effort put in by the staff of the Holy Redeemer Gazette is well worth the final result for many reporters. According to HRG reporter Danielle Zeigler, the Holy Redeemer Gazette “is truly about people who love to write, draw and take pictures coming together to form a newspaper that shows who they are.”
