Press Club

Michigan Nightlight: What really differentiates this program?
Creative Youth Center Executive Director Lorena Slager: The Press Clubs [comprised of the Andy Angelo Press Club and the Cub Reporters Club] each go on one field trip per month and meet weekly to learn new journalism skills and to write their articles. What really makes it different is that we publish our students’ articles on the Rapidian, a local online news source. It is a news website that features our students’ work on the front page when they have new articles, allowing their voices to be heard within their community.

Although we work to make writing fun and exciting for our kids, it really is seeing it published professionally that motivates them to keep writing.

What are the keys to success for your program?
We highly value the Cook Arts Center’s constant support and help with helping organize field trips, recruiting students, and contacting parents. We also wouldn’t have the opportunity to share our young reporters’ voices if not for the Rapidian’s constant support and excitement for the program. Although we work to make writing fun and exciting for our kids, it really is seeing it published professionally that motivates them to keep writing.

What existing challenges remain with this program and how do you plan to overcome them?
We have the same challenges as many programs of our size: transportation, time constraints, funding. We’ve found ways around the transportation issue, but time constraints and funding are often almost the same challenge. We’re always working to raise funds in an effort to constantly improve the program and are confident we’ll overcome these challenges.

How does your program take a collective, collaborative approach to creating systemic change for children?  
Equipping students with proper writing skills is something that is clearly needed right now, as so many students are graduating without them. Working with existing organizations gives us the opportunity to offer our workshops to a larger number of students than just those that come to our space.
 
Also, our writing workshops can often naturally fit into most existing programs, and can be used to augment what other

Equipping students with proper writing skills is something that is clearly needed right now, as so many students are graduating without them.

organizations are already offering to their students. In this way, we’ve found that our program can be extremely versatile and serve students in whatever way is most needed.
 
Our collaboration with the Cook Arts Center in creating the Press Club was the first partnership we made, and has been instrumental in getting our organization off the ground. We’ve found that collaborating with other programs has not only strengthened our program, but also opened doors for our students to other opportunities.
 
How do you innovate programming? Where do the ideas come from? How do you know if they are going to work?
We are constantly looking for new and exciting field trips and interviews for our students and are bringing in working reporters and writers to help the students improve their journalism skills. We also hire contract teachers to come in and teach our workshops, which allows them to learn from someone that writes for a living and tell them first hand how important writing skills are to a successful adult.

The teachers for the classes offer their own expertise and advice on how students can improve their writing, as well as how they can become better reporters. Our Press Club has had lessons on fact vs. opinion, writing interview questions, how to use Google, how to take notes, and how to come up with new questions based on the subject’s previous answers. The students are passionate about writing informative articles, and it shows in their performance in class and on our field trips.