Young Middle Schoolers Dedicate Themselves to Journalism

Cedar Grove's youngest journalists are dedicating two days a week after school to work on their seasonal issues for the Memorial Middle School Newspaper Club.

English and Language Arts teacher Amanda Badami has been running the newspaper club for the past four years. The club has been in existence for eight years.

“The kids find an academic interest which really gets them interested and gets them writing more,” said Badami. “They like being creative and its something they really enjoy.”

The club, made up of more than 30 students from grades five to eight, meet after school on Tuesdays and Thursdays where students write articles on various topics for their seasonal issues. Each issue uses the season as a creative theme, said Badami.

In the fall edition students wrote about the history of Halloween and submitted spooky poems.

Sixth grader Jordyn Lesler says she likes the newspaper club because they can write about anything they want. Lesler, a New York Rangers fan, prefers to write about sports, particularly hockey and baseball.

“I like to write about Greek mythology,” said Nicholas Splendoria, a sixth grade history buff. “My last story was on the history of the four-leaf clover and leprechauns.”

The leprechauns are shoemakers and you are supposed to find a pot pf gold when you hear them banging with their hammers, he added.

Other students have recently written articles about video games, Super Bowl commercials and school events.

“I to joined (the newspaper club) because I want to inform people about what's going on that's really cool,” said sixth grader Cristian Aponte.