September 2015…The new school year is off to a strong start for the Healthy NewsWorks program with our “shoe-leather” camp for budding student journalists.
The camp consists of a week of 45-minute sessions daily to introduce the budding journalists to the basics of reporting. By the end of the week, they understand what news is, the importance of good questions, and how to research topics for their stories. Then they go out on their first assignments for their health-focused school newspapers.
About 60 students from three Philadelphia schools and 55 students from three Norristown schools took part in the shoe-leather camp during September. The program’s name reflects the important tradition of reporters going out on assignment to do “shoe-leather reporting” for their stories.
“We are very excited about the way the program is shaping up for the 2015-16 school year,” said Marian Uhlman, director of Healthy NewsWorks. “In addition to the shoe-leather camp, we’ll soon launch an updated website and publish a teacher’s resource guide that will help classroom teachers use our books and newspapers in classrooms.”