I really had no idea what I would encounter earlier this year when I was invited by SCAPA creative writing teacher Andrea Stang to meet and chat with her class. In this age of Twitter and Internet-driven abandonment of time-honored standards for this often perplexing language of ours, my expectations were somewhat subdued as I made my way to Mrs. Stang’s classroom on the Lafayette High School campus. These would be the writers of tomorrow — the ones who will inform, enlighten, challenge and entertain my grandchildren. So on both professional and personal levels, it felt as though something was at stake. How, as 7th graders in 2013, has their immersion in a digital, online world influenced their critical thinking and writing skills?
As it turned out, the hour flew by far too quickly. These were bright, engaging young minds. They were not in the least hesitant to pose all sorts of intelligent questions about the field of journalism.
And a few indicated that they would like to test the skills they had been developing in Mrs. Stang’s classroom.
Months passed and one day recently, I received an email from Mrs. Stang. Attached were articles by some of her students, offered for our consideration. Creative writing students Avery Logsdon and Kasey Fields each had chosen a local business to profile. We have opted to include their work on our Parting Thoughts page, as personal observations and perspectives on local business from our community’s next generation of writers.
We hope that by publishing these works, these and other aspiring young writers and journalists are encouraged to continue working to find their voices and hone their craft so that they, too, may someday see their efforts realized in print.