Jefferson-Morgan’s elementary GATE students will produce and sell a journalistic magazine this year as part of their curriculum and fundraising efforts. The magazine will be patterned after the Backroads Magazine produced by Waynesburg Central High School students in 1977.
Articles featured in that magazine have been reprinted over the past several months in the GreeneScene. In that collection, students interviewed their grandparents and older friends and relatives to preserve tales and descriptions of life during a bygone era.
Now another generation of Greene County students will capture the memories of previous generations to be preserved for posterity.
Pam Marisa, owner of Direct Results and the GreeneScene reached out to GATE teachers Mrs. Kelly Keruskin and Courtney Ignaski about the project after she and her husband worked with the GATE students on several other projects.
GreeneScene publisher Pam Marisa explains the Backroads project to JM GATE students.
“Kent and I were so impressed with the level of intelligence, enthusiasm and maturity these kids have, we knew they could handle something this advanced.”
The project will include multiple lessons about writing and journalism to give them the tools they will need to produce the book.
Marisa enlisted the help of GreeneScene editor, Bret Moore, to instruct the students on interviewing and journalistic techniques. Moore is a retired English teacher, who taught in the McGuffey School District for 30 years.
“These kids are really astute. They have the ability to understand what it takes to create, in effect, a literary time capsule,” said Moore. “We want them to understand that writing about what might seem like mundane activities or interactions will give people in the future an idea of the world in which their grandparents grew up.”
The introductory lesson was: “Journalism: The Art of the Interview.” Students learned what makes a good interview, how to build an interview, and the five rules that good journalists follow.
According to Keruskin, “We are happy to be giving our students this incredible opportunity to learn, create, and become part of our local history. We can’t wait to see where the Backroads Project takes them.”
The first stories from their efforts will be published in the Backroads section of the GreeneScene the first of the year.
Classmates Stella Dikun and Ava Sworden practice interviewing techniques.
