Tiger Squad News crew Alae Aboutalib, Shayla Black, and Nima Safdari, with the first issue of their school's reborn newsletter (below).
The ink is dry on the first issue of the recently revived Tiger Squad News — as Celentano School reporters-in-training Nima Safdari, Alae Aboutalib, and Shayla Black return to the beat for a second newsletter that they hope will inform their classmates about just how much work goes into being a student reporter.
In October, Celentano Biotech, Health and Medical Magnet School second-grade teacher Fran Holzbar gathered with a group of first- through fourth-grade students to revive the 400 Canner St. school’s print newsletter.
The student newsie group meets twice a week after school to discuss the latest with school happenings.
With the help of the printing team at Wilbur Cross High School, a first issue of a reborn newsletter known as the “Tiger Squad News” was released in February. That four-page, color-photo-rich first issue has an article on afterschool programs and fundraising efforts.
The Celentano news team plans to publish a second issue before the end of the school year. It’ll then begin releasing new issues on a quarterly schedule next school year.
This reporter recently caught up with a trio of the Tiger Squad News students to answer their questions about about reporting tips, lessons, and strategies.
To prepare for the half-hour conversation, the student-reporters attached their blue press passes onto their shirts, grabbed their composition notebooks and pencils, and prioritized their most pressing questions.
They also showed off their first newsletter issue that they worked on for several months to keep the middle school up to date on after school programs, fundraisers, and field trips. The student reporters took the pictures throughout the newsletter and used a Canva template to format the pages.
Also a part of the news team but who were not present at the time of this visit were student-reporters Charles Pablo Lopez, Zain Alqaysi, and Elijah Wagner.
When asked what the staff hope to write more about in the second issue they agreed that they want to discuss the process of making the newsletter and what it’s like working as a team, listening to others’ opinions, and making group decisions.
“When we work as a team, we got it done quicker,” Shayla said.
“I want them to learn that doing this is not really that easy. You don’t just put any picture and some words; you have to take time to process it and write and think and print it out,” Alae said.
Students news notebooks on hand in Holzbar‘s classroom.
Fourth-grader Shayla joined the newspaper staff because of her love for writing which she does often in her free time.
When she has free time in class after finishing an assignment early she often writes up short stories on her favorite topics like fairytales and myths.
One of her most recent stories was about a person who gossiped too much and turned into a crab, she said.
She also writes about what vacations she hopes to go on one day.
Fourth grader Shayla.
“It’s quiet when I write and it calms me,” she said. “When I write people know me better and know how I’m feeling.”
She added that she loves to share her stories with her classmates, especially new students so they can get to know her better.
Her favorite part about reporting so far has been interviewing people and learning new things about them.
At the start of the year the students learned how to introduce themselves to a potential interviewee by looking them in their eyes, shaking their hand, and sharing their name and outlet.
Shayla added that she enjoys informing her school about what’s going on, the hard work of students, and extracurricular actives they can get involved with.
Third-grader Nima.
Third-grader Nima said he enjoys being a news staffer because he knows what’s going on
“During Covid news was important because we learned what Covid was and to not go outside too much,” he said. “And it makes us aware of our surroundings.”
While on the news staff, Nima added that he’s learned that writing and taking pictures can be fun.
“It makes me proud when I show my friends my work,” he said.
While making the newsletter’s final photo spread of students building projects from Eli Whitney, Nima said the team “had to think a lot about the design,” and worked hard to decide on what photos to use and what topics to cover.
He hoped to add more Eli Whitney photos but said he enjoyed the practice for the first newsletter issue.
For the future Nima added that he hopes to write more about what afterschool programs there are at the school and “how much fun making a newspaper is.”
Second grader Alae.
Second-grader Alae joined the news staff because of her love for art and writing.
When at home she can often be found creating her own books — aka, folded sheets of paper stapled together — that she authors and illustrates.
“It’s fun because it gets me off electronics and I usually go outside to get ideas for what to draw,” she said.
One issue she said the news staff came about was what photos to include that were still relevant despite the newsletter being quarterly.
She said she enjoys the afterschool program because it helps her practice her writing and art skills and has introduced her to digital art making while using programs like Canva.
“When you get older you can’t just stop writing and drawing,” she said.
She added that she has learned to crop and edit photos and agree on spelling rules for the newsletter like whether to spell out “one dollar” or use “$1.”
Holzbar with newspaper's team.
For the first half hour of the afterschool program students do their homework.
Holzbar said she hopes for her students to learn more about possible career pathways and practice their enthusiasm in writing and school involvement.
”It’s important for all the kids to know what’s going on. From those that may have behavioral issues to those who came to the school mid-year, they should all be able to find something that motivates them to come to school,” Holzbar said. “Through awareness of school community we instill and build their pride in their community.”
The Tiger Squad News isn’t the only media outlet Celentano students have been working on as of late. Click here to view the school’s weekly news broadcast.
Contributed photos
Independent correspondent, talking shop with Tiger Squad News correspondents.
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