Karine Watts
The lede; the most important part of a story in the newspaper. It captures the attention of readers if written the right way. “What if your lede sucks?” was a class I took at the CSPA Convention. The class taught me that by having a boring or cliché lede will drive readers away. If a lede “sucks”, then the reader will feel no reason to continue reading the story. Sentinel writers must create ledes that appeal to the reader’s senses and emotions. To make the lede work, the writer must do find the right person to interview before writing the lede and also do all reporting before writing the actual lede. There is no point of writing a story if the writer is unable to make a good lede that will capture the reader because then the newspaper is not doing its job.
Before writing a controversial story sentinel writers must know their states laws on student’s rights to a free press. I learned this in a class I took called “They Won't Let Me Print This Now What Do I Do? It was an interesting class. If someone writes something that is not found appropriate by administrators, it can be censored. If this should happen, the principle and the editor should already have a relationship that will make it easier to work out the problem. If for whatever reason the principle and editor can not make an agreement, the Student Press Law Center, can be of assistance. These people will work to help out what can be published or not.
Another class that I attended had information that would also help the Pembroke Sentinel. I took a class about photo shop. This class taught those at the convention, how to make photos better and stand out more on the newspaper pages. This class showed us how to airbrush and fix up photos. Photos make a newspaper fun. They separate all the many words and stories. Photos keep a paper from being just words which no one wants to see throughout the whole paper. Pictures also give readers a visual from the topic of a story. In my opinion, newspapers should have at least one colored photo in the paper to make the reader even more entertained.
The classes at the New York convention were not boring, but very interesting. They were presented to us in a fun way. They teachers were not boring and showed students interesting power points and handouts. Being in the classes was more fun than being in a regular classroom. The teachers were also very good at answering questions that students had. I also liked the main room that all students met in. It gave students the opportunity to meet other students from all over the country. Also, many newspapers from all different schools were laid out on tables for students to go through to see what they did or didn’t like about certain papers. It showed me how to improve our paper and what we should keep the same. In my opinion, the actual convention was very interesting, and I would definitely like to go again.
When not in classes, being in the city of New York was extremely fun. One of the days, I ate lunch at Tom’s Diner. This is a famous place where Seinfeld was often filmed. The service was not that good and the food was average, but it was a fun experience. Shopping was also one of the high points of the trip. Many shops were near the hotel and were very and inexpensive but fashionable. The hotel we stayed in was extremely interesting. I had never stayed at a place like it. I enjoyed it but the décor and dark lighting made the hotel quite different. Wednesday, our whole group saw the Broadway musical "Mary Poppins". At first it was exciting and interesting but then it went on and on. It felt as if it never would end and after more than an hour you would think it was over only to find out that it was only intermission.
Also, my feet were soaked during the whole play from being out in the rain shopping on Canal Street for a couple hours before going to the play. Thursday, many of us ate at a Cuban restaurant. It was awful! The food and service was terrible. Also, someone we were eating with found a long piece of hair in their nachos, which was definitely not one of ours and had come from in the kitchen. Thursday night, the group went to dinner at a fancy pizza restaurant. It was good food and it was fun to all be together. After dinner, people separated. I stayed in Times Square, my favorite place in N.Y.C. I got back to the hotel around 12 a.m. The next morning we woke up at seven and went to a few more classes before getting on the bus to return home. I felt that the bus ride both to and from New York was wonderful. The seats were comfortable and there was even enough room for us to have our own row that we could sprawl across and sleep. On this trip I met many new people that I didn’t even know although they do go to Pembroke High School. It was a very fun trip and I benefited from it in ways that will be useful to the Pembroke Sentinel.
My only complaint? I saw a massive rat in the subway and rats are my biggest fear!!
Before writing a controversial story sentinel writers must know their states laws on student’s rights to a free press. I learned this in a class I took called “They Won't Let Me Print This Now What Do I Do? It was an interesting class. If someone writes something that is not found appropriate by administrators, it can be censored. If this should happen, the principle and the editor should already have a relationship that will make it easier to work out the problem. If for whatever reason the principle and editor can not make an agreement, the Student Press Law Center, can be of assistance. These people will work to help out what can be published or not.
Another class that I attended had information that would also help the Pembroke Sentinel. I took a class about photo shop. This class taught those at the convention, how to make photos better and stand out more on the newspaper pages. This class showed us how to airbrush and fix up photos. Photos make a newspaper fun. They separate all the many words and stories. Photos keep a paper from being just words which no one wants to see throughout the whole paper. Pictures also give readers a visual from the topic of a story. In my opinion, newspapers should have at least one colored photo in the paper to make the reader even more entertained.
The classes at the New York convention were not boring, but very interesting. They were presented to us in a fun way. They teachers were not boring and showed students interesting power points and handouts. Being in the classes was more fun than being in a regular classroom. The teachers were also very good at answering questions that students had. I also liked the main room that all students met in. It gave students the opportunity to meet other students from all over the country. Also, many newspapers from all different schools were laid out on tables for students to go through to see what they did or didn’t like about certain papers. It showed me how to improve our paper and what we should keep the same. In my opinion, the actual convention was very interesting, and I would definitely like to go again.
When not in classes, being in the city of New York was extremely fun. One of the days, I ate lunch at Tom’s Diner. This is a famous place where Seinfeld was often filmed. The service was not that good and the food was average, but it was a fun experience. Shopping was also one of the high points of the trip. Many shops were near the hotel and were very and inexpensive but fashionable. The hotel we stayed in was extremely interesting. I had never stayed at a place like it. I enjoyed it but the décor and dark lighting made the hotel quite different. Wednesday, our whole group saw the Broadway musical "Mary Poppins". At first it was exciting and interesting but then it went on and on. It felt as if it never would end and after more than an hour you would think it was over only to find out that it was only intermission.
Also, my feet were soaked during the whole play from being out in the rain shopping on Canal Street for a couple hours before going to the play. Thursday, many of us ate at a Cuban restaurant. It was awful! The food and service was terrible. Also, someone we were eating with found a long piece of hair in their nachos, which was definitely not one of ours and had come from in the kitchen. Thursday night, the group went to dinner at a fancy pizza restaurant. It was good food and it was fun to all be together. After dinner, people separated. I stayed in Times Square, my favorite place in N.Y.C. I got back to the hotel around 12 a.m. The next morning we woke up at seven and went to a few more classes before getting on the bus to return home. I felt that the bus ride both to and from New York was wonderful. The seats were comfortable and there was even enough room for us to have our own row that we could sprawl across and sleep. On this trip I met many new people that I didn’t even know although they do go to Pembroke High School. It was a very fun trip and I benefited from it in ways that will be useful to the Pembroke Sentinel.
My only complaint? I saw a massive rat in the subway and rats are my biggest fear!!
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