"COLUMBIA — Each spring, Russell Boulevard Elementary School holds Russell University, an after-school program that gives students an opportunity to expand their knowledge on the topic of their interest.
Some students signed up for performance dance and others for Star Wars STEM, but three fifth-graders decided they wanted to try their hand at creating a newspaper.
There was Meredith Flippin, who raved about Tolton High School and basketball. There was Eli Vincent, who talked about sports and music, and there was Yazin Merayyan, who had a deep love for politics.
The Missourian partnered with Russell University to create a class that would teach these students about what goes into creating a newspaper. The community outreach team planned a series of lessons to teach interviewing, writing and photography.
The students chose to name their newspaper The Daily Raven and headed out into the tile hallways armed with a reporter’s notebook, pencil and a series of questions for their future subjects. The junior reporters interviewed classmates taking Star Wars STEM and practiced observing the room of the folklore class before settling into questioning.
The next day, each of the students decided whom they wanted to photograph. The students snapped photos with their school-issued iPads, carefully considering the recently reviewed “rule of thirds.”
“My favorite thing I learned was interviewing. It showed me how to respect people’s words and write down the true information and get to the story,” said Meredith, who focused her story on Star Wars STEM.
Meredith, Eli and Yazin watched the screen of the SmartBoard anxiously as their photos and stories were laid out in their new one-page newspaper. A copy of the Daily Raven was shared with their families.
To complete the experience, the class toured the Missourian newsroom to see the operation in person. Earlier in the week, the students had many questions about cost, efficiency and distribution of the Missourian.
“I liked the designing area because it’s pretty cool to design your own paper,” Eli said.
After the week was done the students said they learned a lot about what goes into something they see every day.
“It’s a really long process to get out one paper,” Yazin said."
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