Whitnall Students, Greenfield Patch Teaming Up

Dozens of students will gain valuable writing experience through an unofficial partnership between the school and Greenfield Patch.

Students in Taylor Townsend’s Broadcast Journalism class and Brenda Burgad’s Advanced Communication and Advanced Writing classes began submitting stories as blog posts and announcements to Patch last week and will continue to do so through the end of the school year.

Most of the articles will be about WHS as students write recaps or previews of events, do feature stories on clubs or teams or take on newsworthy issues. The first two posts were about a and the .

The use of Greenfield Patch for the assignment gives high school students an opportunity to hone their writing skills, get advice from a professional journalist and gather published writing samples for college or job applications.

“I expect my students to gain real-world writing experience through a legitimate social media outlet,” Townsend said. “Blogging is both challenging and exciting for them, and holds them accountable in a way that their other forms of social media like Facebook and Twitter do not. Many students want to pursue a career in journalism, so this is a great opportunity for them to gain experience in the field.”

In addition, WHS and the district will receive a level of unprecedented coverage as students inform the public about the events, groups and issues that impact their day-to-day lives.

“The students participate in community events, work for local businesses and live in the area,” Burgad said. “They have unique and enlightening perspectives to share.

"Some students are having a difficult time choosing a topic because they are afraid to publish an article containing controversial material, and they need to analyze what should and should not be written. This analysis of content is a life-long skill from which students will benefit."

Townsend or Burgad and Greenfield Patch editor David Cotey review all submissions before publication. Cotey will also provide weekly feedback to the students’ teachers.