There were plenty of mistakes - on everyone's part that year. Sometimes I was too lenient. Sometimes I was too stern. Students spelled headlines wrong, botched layouts, failed to produce stories in a timely manner, etc,.... Overall, I was confident they were learning.
While awards are not the best sign of a great publication, they can be a sign of something good going on. During the second year (2007-08), things really started to improve. Most of that credit goes to a dedicated staff. Some people joined the returning Collegiate staff and together really made an impact.
There have been a couple of nice validating moments: 1. The paper's web site won first place in the state's community college newspaper competition and the print edition was third (no other paper was honored in the top three for both print and online). 2. The Collegiate won the prestigious Apple Award during the College Media Advisers spring national convention in New York City (due to a hotel scheduling problem, staff members were robbed the opportunity to accept the award on stage). 3. The Collegiate was recently named a finalist for the Associated Collegiate Press' prestigious Pacemaker Award.
Awards, on their own, do not prove excellence. However, there's no way all three of these organizations are wrong. The Collegiate stands out.
I could not be more proud of the students who put so much into the paper. I can't think of anything more satisfying than to watch students being successful.
5 comments:
Hey Fox:
1) Seen this?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VOJVMpYTiuE&feature=related
2) I ran into Sol at a wedding the other day. He'd just gotten back from Bejing and it working on a book of sports photography.
3) I've misplaced your e-mail address. Drop me a line.
mdl
It must have been so thrilling to be a part of such an experience, and, honestly, I think it's great that you truly want to see student's succeed. Being a student, that means a lot to hear from a teacher. Some teacher's don't care as much, and it's their right, but when they do, it stands out.
Now that I'm thinking about it, I'd love to be a part of an award-winning community college paper! It sounds awesome.
I can relate to the situation of having an almost entirely new staff. For my senior year of high school, I was elected as Student Senate Governor. Student Senate planned activities for the whole high school (as opposed to class councils, which were grade-oriented). The students that were elected as senators were mostly inexperienced when it came to project planning and student leadership. The governor before me had an excellent class of senators, and made a good reputation for herself. Coming into the year, I was scared that I wouldn't live up to the level she had set for me.
Thankfully for me, everybody stepped up to the plate. We received high praise from the TCAPS school board for the projects we put on throughout the year.
That's probably all I have to say about this blog, I just felt like I connected to the concept of dealing with an inexperienced staff and trying to make the best of it.
Matt,
Sometimes facing a difficult situation makes success that much sweeter. Good for you.
this made me miss working on my high school paper and yearbook. it reminded me of how everyone plays a part in working on a paper and everyone is important in a way.
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