Installment+18

South of Denver

Chapter 18 - March 30, 2005

We were brainstorming sports coverage ideas last week, when someone noted that the boys swim team only had one guy on it. We combine forces with three other high schools, evidently, to have a team.

That's when Gillian or Susie (or perhaps they spoke as a chorus) said, "Hey, if you want to tell the story of our swim team. tell the story of our swim team."

(This "joke" is a classic example of how staffs develop their own shorthand humor. It's a good sign when you find this happening on a staff, and this was the first such case with this group. A neutral observer would have found this exchange mystifying, and our unrestrained laughter a sign that something was very wrong with us.)

Anyway, that moment of sheer fun was balanced by the seriousness with which the four teams working on maesto coverage approached their topics.

One group worked on covering the rising minority of our students using marijuana on a frequent basis. They are struggling with how to gather any sort of evidence, beyond anecdotal, and how to find some sort of central story to tell. We have the page on the ladder right now, but we may need a Plan B if things fall apart. The only true news peg for this coverage is that the paper comes out April 20 (4-20).

A second group is working on dieting, with four team members going on four different diets for a week, and then reporting. Their news peg is Terry Shiavo, in a round about way, since her heart attack and brain damage were likely caused by her bulimia. This group is bubbling over with angles to pursue, and my main job is to keep reminding them that they need to stay focused, and that they have one page.

A third group, consisting of Chelsea and Mike, is interested in coverage of the 35th anniversary of the Kent State massacre. It is the second in our series on the First Amendment, focusing on assembly, but they mostly seem fascinated by the story itself, and the marked contrast between war protests then and now. The overall staff does not think this coverage deserves an entire page, feeling that our freedom of the press page last issue was likely the least read part of the paper. (Sigh.) I privately told Chelsea, however, that she should be ready to become Plan B, if the marijuana page implodes.

And finally we have the Columbine plus six years team. The peg is April 20, again, but we have plenty of angles to pursue. Susie has a distant cousin who dated one of the killers (and has now moved away). Susie's mother is acting as our ambassador to try to get an interview. Megan has a connection to a woman who was in the library but was not shot-she still cannot sleep without nightmares. One of our two physical education teachers was then teaching at Columbine. And a teacher at our feeder middle school's daughter, then at Columbine, was saved when a bullet buried itself into her backpack.

The best thing, though, was listening to the team plan a trip this Sunday (when everyone is back from spring break) to Clement Park and the Columbine memorial. They will go as a group, and after soaking up the atmosphere and taking photos, they will all go to one house to eat and talk and plan.

I don't know if the group will produce great journalism, and who knows if our potential sources will feel comfortable sharing their stories. But this is journalism education at its best, with the emphasis on education.

Jack Kennedy

Rock Canyon High School

Highlands Ranch CO 80124

jkkennedy@comcast.net

jack.kennedy@dcsdk12.org

Note: This is part of a series of columns on working with a completely untrained staff. It is cryptotherapy for me. It may occasionally provide something positive for you. It's all uncharted territory, that's for sure.