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The Paw Print: Making memories at Forest High
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Location: Blogs Now We're Talking |
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| Posted by: Joe Byrnes |
5/3/2007 6:11 AM |
If you're a longtime reader of the Star-Banner, then Kristin Sanford has touched your life.
She put the front page together the day terrorists bombed the USS Cole. On Sept. 11, 2001, she rushed into the office minutes after an airliner hit the second World Trade Center tower and worked on into the night.
"I had a gruesome job that night," Sanford told me on Tuesday. "I had to go through the photos."
She brought you front page layouts, headlines and images to show the effects of Hurricane Katrina.
For seven years, Sanford worked on the Star-Banner copy desk, the last few years as the copy desk chief. You wouldn't necessarily know her name, but her news judgment and design decisions affected your knowledge of the world.
Then, last spring, she up and quit the business - to work as an English teacher at Forest High School.
"Here it is so much different," she said, "because, when you do something right, you see the kid's smile. You see the sense of accomplishment if the kid got an A on the paper. ... These kids are amazing and they're so bright."
It wasn't easy making a career change at 35, she said. "I'm happy doing this. I love doing this."
Now the copy editor-turned-teacher has found a way to have the best of both worlds. Working with fellow English teacher Valentina Hafer and a newly formed club of young journalists, Sanford started The Paw Print this year.
She said it's the first Forest High student newspaper in about 10 years.
"The kids did everything - on the writing, on photos - very eager kids, I mean, just fantastic," she said.
After school on Tuesday, editor Michelle Fernandez and several of her newspaper staff were in a classroom, proofing pages for the second edition. It is due out at the end of next week.
Michelle, a senior headed to Amherst College in Massachusetts, said she had lobbied in previous years for a school paper. This school year - when Sanford and Hafer made it possible and won a grant to buy publishing software - Michelle got the job as editor.
"There just wasn't a lot of writing opportunities in high school," she said. "I felt like this gives aspiring writers a chance to write about things today."
At college, Michelle may pursue journalism, she said, "but not as editor, because I never got a chance to write." Instead, she worked with fellow students - like freshman photographer and writer Amanda Peters - and came to enjoy their diverse writing styles.
Amanda seemed excited about the new edition's centerpiece - a photo and interview of Principal Rick Lankford under the headline "Knighted." He is headed to Forest rival Vanguard High School. The Paw Print quotes Lankford as saying he is reluctant about "leaving this great school."
I wondered why, in these zany days of teenagers using MySpace and Facebook, they chose to publish on paper.
"We feel like it can reach out to them more," Michelle said, "if they can actually touch paper and hold it in their hands, rather than just going online like they do for everything else."
Sanford believes the little newspaper itself will be important for students in future years. They'll treasure the articles about themselves, their classmates or their teachers.
"For me, it's like, you can't put a Web site in a scrapbook," she said. "You can't save that. You can't cherish that."
It seems to me that Sanford is still in the business of making memories.
Joe Byrnes may be reached at joe@ocala.comor (352) 867-4112.
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Re: The Paw Print: Making memories at Forest High |
By Lucette Lacasse on
5/2/2007 9:17 PM |
Hi! Kris,
I want to say Congratulation I enjoyed reading Now We're Talking. Enjoy your summer .
From Fort Pierce Fl
Lucette Lacasse
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Re: The Paw Print: Making memories at Forest High |
By Kaye Morton on
5/3/2007 11:03 PM |
Hey, Kris,
I've always known you were special. How wonderful it is that you're RAEALLY TOUCHING and CHANGING LIVES - looking into the hearts of those young people and making a difference. I love you Kris, and I'm so very proud of you. Stay focused on what matters most and don't let anything misguide you.
Your friend in Charleston, WV
Kaye Morton |
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