The students submitting this project are members of the high school newspaper class, where I am the adviser. These students (Emily, Aleksandra, and Julia) have been in my newspaper class for over two years and have brought the quality and interest of our school newspaper to a new level.
We are at the point where our class has evolved to require more equipment and resources to accommodate students and really allow them to practice real journalism. A professional camera will allow these dedicated students to truly develop their skills as journalists, and furthermore help the newspaper to better inform the high school community, district, and capture memorable moments from students' high school years.
Since the Newspaper class is self-funded and in a low-income public school district, it is more difficult to access necessary materials. Every year students in the class are required to sell advertisements, put on a talent show, and sell ornaments during the winter holidays, but with an increase in demand for the newspaper, this is not enough to keep the class running with the materials we desperately need.
With the resource of a professional camera, Newspaper students would be able to include real photo-journalism to our paper. They would learn how to frame, position, and use images to enhance their articles and/or tell a story by itself. A picture is worth a thousand words, and our Newspaper program has been lacking in the area of photography. The photos that the school newspaper takes also serve the greater school community in capturing memories and preserving the important events and moments of a given school year.
By learning how to use this camera students will also continue to build their communication skills as they work to photograph people, events, and special moments.
In Their Own Words
Our goal as a newspaper staff is to own a camera to improve the quality of our newspaper by including photographs to draw readers' attention and provide visual pieces to better inform our audience. We would like to be able to tell stories with not only our words but pictures and capture the precious moments of high school for the future.
Having a camera would provide a way for newspaper staff members to grow not only as reporters but also photographers. This would also provide leadership positions within the staff such as, "staff photographer" and "graphics manager". These students would be responsible for taking pictures, as well as editing and preparing them for going on the page, and then to press.
Having a camera is important to us because it would improve the newspaper and give us the opportunity to provide better content through images.
Our biggest issue as a newspaper is the fact that we are not funded by our school district. Any money we have comes from students selling advertisements to nearby businesses and hosting fundraisers. Our technological resources are greatly limited, an example being our eight laptops, half of which barely work. In comparison to nearby schools, the technology we do have is extremely outdated and difficult to work with. A camera would be a great asset to us and would ultimately only benefit our newspaper.
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As a teacher-founded nonprofit, we're trusted by thousands of teachers and supporters across the country. This classroom request for funding was created by Ms. Steger and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.
