Installment+21

South of Denver - Chapter 21

August 30, 2005

"So who wants to take a shot at defining 'journalism'?" I asked the shiny-faced group of beginning Journalism students during the first week of the new school year. "After all, it's the name of this class."

A lonely hand tentatively rose from the back row. "Uh... telling people the news."

"I think we'll write stuff," came a tangential response.

"Journalism is what journalists do," said a sophomore boy.

That's when I quickly wrote the following on the white board: "Journalism is the best attainable version of the truth." -- Carl Bernstein

"And who is Carl Bernstein?" I asked.

No response.

"Does the name Bob Woodward ring any bells?"

Total silence.

"How about Richard Nixon? Anyone? Okay, what about the Watergate Hotel? Deep Throat?"

Perhaps the start of a new school year had fried their neurons, but it took the final question to even get two hands up in recognition. And then I found out that not a single one of the 27 kids in the class had noticed all the brouhaha over the revelation of who "Deep Throat" was.

I made a mental note to add a short history of journalism to the semester-long curriculum.

At least such an addition is possible this year -- year two of our newspaper program at Rock Canyon. We will have an introductory journalism class each semester, running a total of nearly 60 kids through the prerequisite to working on either the paper or the yearbook.

Such numbers should eventually produce solid sizes for both production classes, but this semester, at least, they are each at 10 students.

Despite the school growing to nearly 800 kids in three grades from last year's 440 in two, the schedule remains just too tight for everyone to find a way into Newspaper. Too many singletons, as the counselors like to say. I noted a hint of stress yesterday even in Susie, who suddenly realized she has taken on six different assignments for our Sept. 14 issue.

We are in negotiations to pare our projected 16-page first issue to 12, mostly to preserve staff sanity (I am actually the most vocal person in favor of 12, having seen eyes bigger than journalistic stomachs before). Everybody's stressed, and we are only in week three of the new year. Oh, and last night I got a call from someone checking on a reference for Susie, who has applied for a life guard job at a local pool. I gave her a sterling report, of course, but later thought about her seven classes, volleyball, church group. and now a job?

Summer must seem like a momentary dream to kids like her. It certainly seems like one to me. But this is high school in a new century, and it's our job to chronicle the story.

Jack Kennedy

Rock Canyon High School

Highlands Ranch CO 80124

 jkkennedy@comcast.net

 jack.kennedy@dcsdk12.org

Note: This is the latest chapter in a series of columns on working with a young staff in a young school (8 of the 10 staff are sophomores and no senior class yet). It is cryptotherapy for me. It may occasionally provide something positive for you. Please go to the JEAHELP archives to read the previous chapters, if you missed them and have absolutely nothing else to do.