‘HVRHS Today’ — a new paper

There’s something new in this week’s edition of The Lakeville Journal — the first issue of the student-produced HVRHS Today.

This publication is the culmination of nearly two months of diligent work from five juniors at Housatonic Valley Regional High School.

The program started with a simple goal: to re-establish students’ voices in the community. The program’s structure was broadly devised by content coordinator Nathan Miller, a recent graduate of the Missouri School of Journalism and proponent of the “Missouri method.” Miller joined The Journal last summer.

The “Missouri method” is, basically, learning by doing. The students met with Miller at The Journal office every Thursday for preparatory lectures and discussions, but the bulk of their education came from in-the-field reporting and the feedback Miller provided after the fact.

It’s tried-and-true experiential learning, and the benefits are obvious. Mizzou graduates have been in all but one class of Pulitzer prize winners since 2010. The pieces featured in this inaugural issue of “HVRHS Today” are further evidence of the success of this method. These five students, who had never reported on or written a newspaper article before in their lives, have put together their own publication practically from scratch.

There was some help along the way, and a few people that deserve thanks for helping make this program a reality. We would all like to thank Peter Vermilyea, HVRHS social studies chair, and Lori Bucco, English teacher, for helping to assemble this impressive group of young reporters. We would also like to thank Nancy Hegy Martin, HVRHS educator and 21st Century Fund board member, for helping organize meetings with the students and principal Ian Strever for helping us bring this program to the school.

This program was generously supported by Funds of Berkshire Taconic Community Foundation and the 21st Century Fund for HVRHS.

We would also like to thank the courageous volunteers that stepped up to create this inaugural issue. As the first group, they were responsible for naming their publication and developing a general tone and goals for the paper. They are also responsible for approving the final design and visual style of the piece. All that is in addition to hours of reporting, writing and photography on stories that they pitched in the first place. Every step of the process was shaped by their decisions.

The students’ issue can be read on Pages A5 through A8. Give it a read, it’s worth your time.

HVRHS Today is also available online at www.lakevillejournal.com/hvrhs-today and is expected to return in print this fall.