1 month after joining in 6th grade, I was promoted to Editor-In-Chief. My fellow reporters were dismayed. I was the youngest student ever to be appointed editor-in-chief, and I had already beat most 8th graders! The reason I had been appointed was probably because of my high level of dedication. In one school year I sent in over 100 articles. I explored every cranny in the middle school, and wrote a hit article, called "Top Ten Places You Didn't Know Were Here". I had creeped down in to the tunnels under the school, steamed myself in the boiler room, and shivered by the water tank and on the roof. Later in the year I became well known for my controversial opinion articles (such as the article I wrote: The Great Vegetarian Debate), and my reviews of restaurants, movies, books and music. I sent in more articles than most of the students would send in during a lifetime. When our first newspaper was published 90% of the work was by guess who? Me.
One of the things that had spurred me into journalism was the Rita Skeeter character in the Harry Potter books (yes, I know, she's not a good character), and the book The Landry News by Andrew Clements (a wonderful book- see it at http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Landry-News/Andrew-Clements/e/9780689828683/?itm=1&USRI=the+landry+news). In 4th grade I had written a DAILY 10 PAGE COLOR newspaper, called The Thompson News, and distributed it among my classmates. That newspaper lasted for 3 years, with regular huge anniversary bashes. I wasted thousands of pieces of paper and ink printing it. One part of my closet is still filled floor-to-ceiling with old issues of it. My whole class was recruited to take part in the newspaper I created. I had columnists, advice writers, staff writers, reviewers, photographers, and poll-takers. I, however, was the back-bone of the whole system. I spent each evening typing until my fingers were numb, and I printed in the morning before school (stapling all the issues on the bus). We had a regular hot dish of gossip from the school (always VERY popular), polls, opinions about teachers and more. Sometimes our newspaper had news that was so controversial, we had to go "undercover" briefly, until the teacher's stopped snooping around.
Until this day, I am still a journalist inside. Now, though, I am moving on to high school newspapers instead of middle school. I also send in to magazines and local newspapers. Am I Rita Skeeter material like J.K. Rowling's character? Probably not, but hey, we aren't all great gossip writers!
Here is my old, old website from my 4th grade Thompson News.
The pictures below are of our 3rd and final Thompson News anniversary party.
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