Young Adelphia Reporters Keep Their Eyes on the Tiger News

With a group of more than 60 fourth and fifth graders working on the staff of the "Tiger Times," the students at have shown an early passion for journalism in their community.

Covering everything from news in the school to the sports programs, the first edition showed how much they can accomplish when they work together. Fifth grader Trevor Ballingall said he is excited to contribute to the new program. "I think it's a good idea to be part of Adelphia," he said. 

Ballingall said the newspaper club has shown him that it could be something his is interested in for the future. "I guess I'll to it as a little thing that I do on the side," he said. 

While he will go on to the middle school level next year, fourth graders like Dana DiBella will have the chance to come back next year and continue building on what they started. "I wanted to do it as a team thing and because I love writing," she said. 

DiBella said as a sports fan she has found that to be an enjoyable subject to cover. "I did play soccer so I know a lot about that," she said. In addition to soccer she said she also spends her time doing dance and playing softball, which could provide a basis for future stories. She is also writing about a reading program as part of the paper's well-rounded approach to news.

Charged with directing this large group of young reporters is second grade teacher Lauren Adams and fourth grade teacher Alexis Mendoza. With the first edition having come out in December, Adams said it has been an interesting learning experience for the students and their advisors. "We started from scratch so we've come a long way in even a couple of months with the students," she said.

Both teachers also agreed that the future reporters are also eager to take part in something new to the school. "The students enjoy staying after and working with one another," Mendoza said.  "They're really into it," added Adams. "They work well in their groups."

Even with only one edition published they said the response from the community including outside the building has been overwhelmingly positive. They also like seeing the students apply the skills they learn outside of the classroom. "The biggest part of teaching is hoping they can apply it to another setting," Mendoza said. Adams said that is especially true of the writing skills they are able to fine-tune by working on and editing their own articles.

With this being the first year of the program the two teachers said they are looking forward to where the paper goes. "We often talk about how we're excited to hopefully have the same opportunity to run the program next year," Mendoza said.

Taking what they have learned this year and the experience the students have gained, the teachers said they believe the paper can be even better in the future.