The Crow's Nest

Austin Arias
Neighborhood News Bureau

The students at the Academy Prep Center of St. Petersburg are anxiously anticipating the release of their debut issue of the school’s first student-produced newspaper.

The program was recently added to the Center’s roster of enrichment program offerings after increased student demand.

“The students wanted to start a newspaper because they wanted to learn more about what was going on on campus,” said Allie Whiteley, a fifth grade teacher and the newspaper program adviser.

The overall goal of the program is to “provide information for the school to read and for students to express themselves,” Whiteley said. “The students will be able to write things that are outside the classroom.”

The group of about 15 students ranges from fifth to eighth graders. The group works out of their own newsroom in the Center’s computer lab and meets three times a week. The students selected their own editor in chief and staff photographers.

Before the group publishes their premiere issue, the students have been going through educational activities to help them adjust to the news style of writing. One recent activity included challenging the students to find common news writing elements like the “who, what, where, when and how” in news stories from local media organizations.

The group will write on a variety of topics. They are encouraged to write about topics that affect their classmates, and interesting things in the community. Everything printed in the newspaper will be student-produced, and will include news stories, artwork and photographs. They hope to receive submissions from students outside the program as well.

“The students also wanted to get to know their campus better and the things that were also happening in the community,” Whiteley said.

The program recently reached out to the local community for support. They invited Nikeya Williams, editor in chief of the USF St. Petersburg student newspaper, to help them get the program off the ground.

“My experience at Academy Prep was one of enjoyment and excitement,” Williams said. “The students asked me questions about how to get their paper started and published. I was very impressed with how well versed they were in news writing.”

Williams plans to have staff from The Crow’s Nest get involved with the Center’s program. Many of the students mentioned that they wanted to learn from her staff writers and photographers to help their paper.

“The students are eager and ready to learn about journalism, and this shows that there’s a need to reach out into the community to help and build this student newspaper,” Williams said.

The Center hopes to reach out more to the local community and invite more guests, like Williams, to help build up their program.

The newspaper wants to begin printing soon, and their goal is to print bi-weekly, to show students that “writing can be interesting and fun,” Whiteley said.