Students of Lauren Highlands’ English teacher Paula O’Connell’s Academic English 11 classes recently completed a writing unit on news writing and and related careers.
Herald-Standard Editor-in-Cheif Mark O’Keefe, “Weekend Scene” Editor, Cindy Brown and Head Photographer, Ed Cope spoke to the classes about daily activities in the newsroom, skill sets needed for success in media careers and their personal experiences as writers, photographers and editors through the years.
Students wrote their own news stories, editorials and entertainment reviews to sharpen their composition skills.
“I wanted students to experience writing as an activity that could be fun, interesting and current,” O’Connell said. “Students greatly improved their communications skills by interviewing others and organizing their material into publishable stories. The Herald-Standard does a great job educating area school students through many programs such as NIE [Newspapers in Education] and the providing of speakers to local schools. I am very proud of the students, whose efforts have paid off with the publication of their stories.”
O’Connell completed an internship in the Herald-Standard Newsroom during the summer of 2007 through the Educators in the Workplace program.
