News beat: Ephrata fifth graders learn the ropes of journalism

EPHRATA — The Columbia Basin Herald recently acquired some competition in Ephrata. We’d be more worried if the journalists were old enough to, say, drive a car. 

“I started the Parkway Post news because I thought it'd be a great opportunity for students to get the real-world experience of what journalism is like,” said Naileah Shaporda, who teaches the Highly Capable Program at Parkway Intermediate School in Ephrata. “They've really been able to work on their critical thinking skills, working as a team, showing their leadership skills … and it's also a great, engaging way for them to learn their writing structure and what a newspaper should look like.” 

The Parkway Post is published monthly, printed on 11x17 paper and folded. The March edition was 14 pages long, all written, edited and designed by fifth-graders, and included interviews with Ephrata School District Superintendent Ken Murray and the Parkway Math is Cool competitors, an article explaining book fairs, a man-on-the-street — or rather, student-on-the-playground — survey about the best places to hang out at recess and an opinion column calling for a volunteer cleanup day at the school.  

“I honestly didn't think that the kids were going to enjoy it this much, because, at the end of the day, it's writing,” Shaporda said. “But I think (they like it) because it's so engaging, and they get to conduct interviews and do research about certain topics that they don't usually research or have their own voice or opinion.” 

Before beginning the Parkway Post project, Shaporda brought in other newspapers as a springboard to let the students see how a newspaper is structured. 

“We went through it in class and circled all the headings and subheadings,” said fifth-grader Viviene Springs, who served as chief editor for the March edition and is a reporter for the April edition. Shaporda rotates duties among the students from month to month, she said. As chief editor, Viviene also designed the pages, using the online graphic design tool Canva. 

“My mom helped me with some of the effects, but I did it mostly,” she said. 

The project has been so successful the sixth grade Highly Capable class is now asking to start a newspaper, said Parkway Principal Jeremy Vasquez. 

“The cool thing is, these kids are taking something and they’re applying it,” Vasquez said. “They’re not just researching something, they’re doing it … Our staff are reading this to their classrooms, and so kids are questioning some of the calls I make. It’s OK, because that’s the whole point. Kids are thinking for themselves … They're taking their recess time to interview staff. They're spending their free time to go watch an event, and they're taking note paper and a marker to go take notes and jot down information for the Parkway Post. It's things like that that's pretty cool.” 

    Parkway Intermediate School Highly Capable students study how newspapers are structured in preparation for creating their own Parkway Post.