Scholastic Journalism Week celebrates student journalists of all experience levels
It’s been more than 100 years since the Journalism Education Association (JEA) established Scholastic Journalism Week.
The week-long celebration originated in 1924.
This year, the Scholastic Journalism Week started Monday and concluded today.
The celebration of student journalists highlights newspaper, yearbook and introduction to journalism students.
Peng Zhang, an eighth-grade student, is this year’s editor in chief for The Flame, Duncan Middle School’s yearbook.
Zhang has been enrolled in a journalism class for the past three years, starting with the sixth-grade journalism class before moving to yearbook as a seventh-grader.
He said student journalism is important because it helps create critical and mental thinking about writing.
Christian Gates, another eighth-grade student, is the student life editor for yearbook.
This is his first year in a journalism class, but he thinks the skills learned through journalism class can help student in other areas of school and life.
Gates said student journalism is important because it helps improve student narrative writing skills.
Both Gates and Zhang said they promote journalism by taking an active role in yearbook, which includes taking photos, interviewing people and laying out pages.
Reid Webb may not be an editor for the Demon Direct, but he is an active member of the staff.
Not only is Webb, an eighth-grader, a member of the sports group, but he is also the entertainment columnist for the online publication.
This is Webb’s first year in a journalism class, but he can see the importance in student journalism.
He said it helps student in choosing their careers and helping them make decisions later.
