Youth and Newspapers

I recently had the opportunity to welcome the Encampment K-12 School 3rd grade class at the Saratoga Sun office and I can’t speak highly enough of these young students.

At the beginning of this school year, Rayna Greenwood—who is the new 3rd grade teacher—had emailed me about a field trip to the Saratoga Sun. I was ecstatic as I’ve always welcomed the opportunity to talk about this newspaper and the industry itself. I’ve given tours of the office to people just coming through the Valley on vacation and the 8th grade students who participate in the Saratoga/Platte Valley Chamber of Commerce’s annual Career Day. Giving a tour to primary school students, however, was new to me.

Rayna and I briefly discussed the best approach for the field trip. I offered to give the students as much of a history lesson as I could on the Saratoga Sun and a tour of our newspaper archives. She suggested the students interview each other before they came to the office and I could edit their writing as a small example of what it’s like to work for the newspaper.

I loved the idea.

So, on October 16, the 3rd grade class came filing into our office as we were preparing to send off that week’s edition of the Saratoga Sun. Again, I cannot say enough about how well behaved and respectful they were. They were full of questions. Perhaps one of my favorite parts was when I was explaining to them the concept of an editorial.

An editorial, I told them, is the opinion of the newspaper. I asked the students if they thought Jake Johnston—or Mr. J—was doing a good job as principal. All their hands went in the air, most of them even put both hands up to show their appreciation of their principal. I explained to the students an editorial, if they were running a newspaper, would explain why they felt Mr. J was doing a great job as principal and would provide specific examples.

We all went into the back of the Saratoga Sun, then, where I went over the history of the newspaper beginning with how it was owned by J.F. Crawford—the second owner—and the rivalry between the Sun and the Platte Valley Lyre. For those who may not know, the Platte Valley Lyre boasts some of the first women newspaper editors in Gertrude and Laura Huntington. They were also the first women newspaper owners in Wyoming.

Very carefully, I showed them a bound copy of the 1892 to 1893 edition of the Sun and compared it to one of our recent issues. The students seemed very interested in the differences between newspapers of the late 1800s and those of today. As they looked at the historic newspapers, I explained to them the process of setting type, where the terms uppercase and lowercase come from and why there is a difference in the industry between the words lead and lede.

For those who don’t know, we use lede in the industry to discuss the opening of an article. The reason for this is because the spacing between sentences is known as leading because of the lead used to separate the type in the old printing presses.

We also briefly went over coverage in the Saratoga Sun. I was amazed at how astute these students were when we went over why it would be important for the newspaper to cover something like an increase in water rates.

Finally, it was time to edit the 3rd grade students’ writing. I pulled out my trusty red pen and worked with each student on their writing and how we would approach their writing if they were working for the newspaper. It didn’t take long before the students, almost in unison, would point out what changes would need to be made to each other’s small articles. They were patient, gracious and understanding of the changes we made. What they really seemed to enjoy, however, was when it came time for me to edit Rayna’s writing.

It gave them some enjoyment to see that even their teacher needed her writing edited.

To say I enjoyed having the 3rd glass from Encampment K-12 School in the office would be an understatement.

I encourage all teachers in Carbon County School District No. 2 to reach out if they would be interested in doing a similar field trip to the Saratoga Sun. We would love to have you in the office and talk to your students. Just email [email protected] and we’ll find a day, that isn't’ Monday or Tuesday, to welcome you for a field trip.

Kudos to Rayna Greenwood for coming up with the idea, her students for taking such an interest in their local newspaper.