Shaw club gives kids real-world experience

Seven middle school students got to try their hands at journalism. The Community Times Why? Because I'm a sixth grader at Shaw Middle School, located at 54th and Warrington streets in Southwest Philadelphia. What is my name doing in the DP? It is there because I decided I wanted to see what it's like to be a journalist and put out a paper. At Shaw, I joined the Journalism Club, a way for students like me, who are interested in journalism, to write articles and produce our own paper -- The Community Times that you're reading right now. The club is a part of the AIM Community, which stands for Active Innovative Multimedia. Elaine Welles is the AIM community coordinator. The Journalism Club at Shaw was started during the 1995 to 1996 school year. According to Mrs. Garnette Davis-Gorman, the club's adviser, the club was started to "assist students to work in small group settings, to develop writing and interviewing skills, as well as learning the process of maintaining a successful newspaper business." There are seven Shaw students in the Journalism Club this year. Their names are Ebony Archer, Raynard Archer, Brittany Fritz, Jamilla DeLoatch, Desahra Outlaw, Jaunita Alexander and Tarren Lawrence. Two or three Saturdays during the semester, we all come to The Daily Pennsylvanian building and edit our stories with the DP writers. They help make our stories clearer and more complete. It is so much fun at Saturday School at the DP -- the Penn students are great. I would like to thank Mrs. Davis and everyone who helped us to put this paper together. I am in the club because I like to see my name in the paper. My other club members have different reasons why they are in the journalism club. "I would like to be a journalist and this is good practice for me," Brittany Fritz said. Even though I enjoy the Journalism Club, I would not like to be a writer when I grow up. I would like be a singer. In the Journalism Club I can learn things that will help me with my singing career such as I might have to write my own songs and I'll have to be a good writer to do that. I learn to work with people in the Journalism Club and that will prepare me for working with people in the music world. The Journalism Club has been a really good experience for me and it has helped me develop my writing and my computer skills. All students should have a journalism club in place at their schools.

Please note All comments are eligible for publication in The Daily Pennsylvanian.