Every child deserves their own creative spotlight. A team of students dedicated to teaching children how to shine a spotlight on their own written work has taken the initiative to teach kids the joys of journalism. During the week of July 14 to July 18, ten fifth to eighth grade students participated in the first Journalism class taught at Claremont Education Foundation’s (CEF) SLICE of summer program. The class is led by current and former Editors-in-Chief—Mayo Ou, Jack Warren, Caroline Warren, Joy Cheng, and Nina Wu—from Claremont High’s student-run newspaper, The Wolfpacket. This class, alongside a color guard class run by the Claremont High School color guard, marks the first-ever student-run SLICE program.

During the week, kids started off by learning crucial skills used in real-world journalism settings. From “Interviewing 101” to “How to do AP Formatting,” the mentors helped the kids write quality pieces, showcased in this special eight-page edition of The Wolfpacket that exclusively features the works of the kids in the program. The class curriculum did not stop at plain writing, though. For the more artistically interested students, they created original works of art to accompany their articles. Each student was also tasked to work in a team to design a page layout that the mentors helped bring to life. On the final day, students also learned the ins and outs of publicity in the world of journalism. Owen Abendschein, a student in the Journalism program, commented on the holisticity of the curriculum.

“I learned how journalism really works, instead of just thinking that it was walking around and talking to people on the street,” Abendschein said. “Well, what I really liked about it is that [it is] straightforward—you just have three pitches, you choose one or two of them. It’s pretty straightforward.” 

Another student, Ellen Thomas, shared her favorite memories from the week.

“The New York Times games we played before class [were fun],” said Thomas. “Also getting to write our own articles and having the freedom to choose whatever you wanted to write about.”

Stefany Mezones, the SLICE administrator, praised the curriculum design.

“For most kids, writing is like, ‘oh, boring,’” Mezones said. “But the fact that it comes with a finished product and something that they can be proud of […] [shows it is] not only a class [to prepare for] high school, but it’s also part of a career.”

From the moments of sustained dedication to the laughter shared over a hilarious hook, seeing the students having fun practicing creativity brought fulfillment to the mentors as well. Cheng, an Editor-in-Chief, felt that the program was an exciting week.

“Overall, it was a very rewarding experience, especially to see the students’ passion grow as they were exposed to the world of journalism,” Cheng said. “It gives us a lot of hope for the future of journalism within our community.”