There’s a Journalist in You, Let Mr. Scheiner Bring it out
Have you ever noticed injustices in the school and wanted to say something and be heard? Or have you wanted to announce a big event, but didn’t know how? Well then, journalism is for you. In journalism class, you choose a topic that you wish to write about, and simply write your heart out. The best part? You don’t need to be the best writer, you will learn!
Mr. Scheiner, the journalism teacher, sits with you and teaches you the proper way to report. Not only do you learn to write, but you learn useful life skills in this class as well. You are taught how to interview, who to interview, and how to be a credible reporter. It allows you to grow as a writer, and to grow social skills as well.
“I wasn’t and still am not a very good writer, but journalism class made me feel comfortable and allowed me to explore styles of writing. I’m not afraid to write anymore, because I’m informing my readers and to do that I don’t need to be an amazing writer,” says Brian Spencer.
Journalism doesn’t only teach you how to be a reporter, it also teachers how to be a more informed citizen. Mr. Scheiner explains how the paper is set up, and how to read and understand an article by skimming it.
Neophytos Ioannou thinks that it helped him to grow because he is more aware of what’s going on in the world around him.
“I don’t like to read much, so to be able to know how to read the newspaper quick and still get the same amount of needed information really helps me to be more informed,” Neo says.
Eleni Florides also believes that journalism class has allowed her to grow, but through her writing. “I learned that every story has so much information that it has to be compacted down to a short article if I want people to read it. I also learned how to ask good questions to get answers that people will find intriguing,” says Eleni.
This is Mr.Schiener’s first year teaching journalism at FSSA. His goal for his first year was to get the website started and to redesign the physical newspaper, and he feels that the journalism class did a great job at doing that.
“I just hope that we can do at least one more print issue, and that we can raise enough money to do so. I am very impressed with the work that has been done in terms of the website and the redesign of the newspaper; hopefully we can keep the momentum going.”
But Mr. Scheiner is just getting started. He has so much more planned for next year.
“My goals for next year are longer stories, more in depth pieces and to get lower classmen so that when they’re seniors, they will want to volunteer to be in the class.”
Mr. Scheiner believes that overall journalism class is a great opportunity for students to get some insight on what being a journalist is about in high school, so that later on, they’ll be a part of a college newspaper, which happens to be a lot of fun.
by Manuela Piedrahita ’14