Where ’ s the story?

1. Where’s the story? Jeanne Acton, ILPC Director

2. It’s that day again. That horrible day. Story assignment day. About once a month, newspaper students across the nation dive into this daunting task. Some skip class that day. Some act sick, put their head down on the desk and say they can’t participate. But most simply whine … “There’s nothing to write about in this school. Nothing ever happens.”

3. I beg to differ. There is this huge world around you. Just open your eyes.

4. Where do you look to find news? • Oddly enough, your local media • The national news • Your community • Web sites • Your hallways

5. Let’s look at some national news and topics that can be localized.

6. Wars/military parents • Obesity in America (teen diabetes) • Crime rates • New statistics on teen smoking • New statistics on teen STDs • Any new statistics that have to do with teens • Teen pregnancy • Drop out rates

7. Poverty, homelessness • Sex (not a how-to) • Drugs • Gay marriages • No Child Left Behind • Lagging economy/unemployment • Charter schools/school reforms • Gangs, violence

8. Teens and HIV • Immigration laws/proposed bills • Reality TV craze - Am. Idol • Steroids • Myspace.com/blogging • Internet dating • Internet creeps • Cutting • Abuse

9. Global warming • Local elections • Darfur • Steroids • Staph infections • Cyberbullying • Bath Salts – the new drug

10. How do I know if it’s a good story idea for my school?

11. Number 1 reason you know it’s a good story idea… • You found a local angle and have interesting people to interview (the key word here is ‘interesting’)

12. A few other reasons you know it’s a good story idea… • The topic will appeal to your audience. • The story will be more than just statistics. • You haven’t told it before. • You’re not doing it just to shock people and cause controversy

13. Teen smoking …Twenty two percent of teens said they were smokers in 2007, down from 36.4 percent in 2004 and 27.5 percent in 2000, the Center for Disease Control reported.

14. Is this a good story or bad story? Could be either …

15. It’s a good story if … • We can find an angle. If we have a story to tell. • For example, maybe we have a student at our school. Let’s call her Jessie. Jessie’s father is dying of lung cancer. He started smoking at age of the 13. He quit last month, but it’s too late. The doctors are giving him less than a month to live. Jessie, who has friends who smoke, has not picked up the habit and never intends to smoke. Ever.

16. It’s a good story if … • We can tell the readers something they don’t already know. • For example, maybe several of our seniors volunteer at the Cancer Society and are going to sponsor a Smoke-Out for our school in a few months. Maybe we have a few teachers are going to give it a shot - quit smoking.

17. It’s a bad story if … • We rely on statistics for our entire story • We don’t localize the story to our school, our community • We simply do an editorial on “why smoking is bad” • We don’t tell a real story. We just ask five people, “What do you think about smoking and smokers?”

18. When localizing a story goes bad …

19. The topic: The War/Military Families

20. Here’s a bad one… Many high school students and teachers have friends and loved ones who are either in Iraq or have been there. “My uncle went to Iraq in November,” senior Charlie Brown said. “He’s back now. He said it was really violent.” Assistant Principal Hank Williams’ son is in Iraq. “It’s tough having your son in constant danger,” he said. Brown said he never wants to join the military. “It just seems too dangerous,” he said.

21. I saw very few of these … Science teacher Sandi Mink gives her home phone number to all of her students. She wants to be available to students as they work on her physics assignments at home. But don’t bother calling at 8 p.m. on Thursday nights. That’s a sacred time for the Mink family. “That’s Jeff’s time,” she said. “Ever since he went to Iraq, my son Jeff calls home once a week at 8 p.m. on Thursdays.” “He’s called almost every week since he’s been gone,” she said.

22. One Thursday in October, Jeff missed his weekly call. “I was sure he was dead,” Ms. Mink said. “I started crying and couldn’t stop. Finally at midnight, he called.” Jeff had been on a raid and couldn’t get away to make his weekly call. “Luckily, Jeff is a computer guy,” she said. “He works on the communications end of things and doesn’t see much action. But that night, he had to go on the raid to identify equipment.”

23. The topic: Drugs

24. Or how about this one? Deep in the underground of Seaweed High School, you can hear whispers of scandalous weekend plans. No, not your over-hyped double date — drugs! Even the most innocent student knows that drugs and alcohol are a problem at our school.

25. Finding the local angle … It was the worst day of his life. Jeremy West had to explain to his 4-year-old sister that he was the one who stole her piggy bank. “I’ve done a lot that I am ashamed of, but that was the worst,” he said. “She had been saving for a pink huffy bike.” West took his sister’s $23 and bought crack cocaine. “When I told her, she just cried and said she wanted me to get better,” he said. And that is exactly what West is trying to do. West’s confession was part of his recovery from alcohol and drug addiction. “I’ve been clean for six weeks now,” he said. “There is a long road ahead of me, but it’s a road worth walking.”

26. Again, good topic. Bad story. Every teenager is faced with the question, “Should I text while I am driving?” Many say yes. But some say “no.” “I don’t do it,” said Carol Boring. “I don’t know how to drive yet.” Her best friend, Cathy Bland, agreed that texting while driving could be bad. “I heard someone’s dad was hit by a student who was texting while driving,” she said.

27. Here’s good reporting… “OK. C U @ 7.” The text was innocent enough. No profanity. No illicit pictures. No inappropriate messages. But that innocent text changed Stephen Smith’s life forever. As his finger hit the send button on his phone, Stephen looked up and realized he had swerved into oncoming traffic. An 18-wheeler was headed right for Stephen’s small Honda civic.

28. Stephen jerked the steering wheel and missed the huge diesel, but his reaction sent the car spinning into a tree on the side of Route 220. “When the paramedics finally got me out of the car, I only had a weak pulse,” he said. “They didn’t think I would survive.” He did. Just barely. “I had a punctured lung, bleeding on the brain, 16 broken bones and a 8-inch cut across my face,” he said. “Even though it’s been six months since the crash, I’ve never forgotten that day. And if I do, my face quickly reminds me.”

29. When localizing a story goes bad …

30. Here are the facts: • More than 5 million American experience eating disorders (Harvard Eating Disorders Center) • Fifteen percent of young women have substantially disordered eating attitudes and behaviors. (HEDC) • In the U.S. conservative estimates indicate that, after puberty, 5-10 million girls and women and one million boys and men are struggling with eating disorders, including anorexia, bulimia, binge eating disorder, or borderline conditions. (National Eating Disorder Association) • Bulimia and anorexia affect 3-5 percent of middle and high school girls. (NEDA)

31. Here is the story gone bad … According to the Harvard Eating Disorders Center more than 5 million Americans experience eating disorders Fifteen percent of young women have substantially disordered eating attitudes and behaviors. According to the National Eating Disorder Association, in the U.S. conservative estimates indicate that, after puberty, 5-10 million girls and women and one million boys and men are struggling with eating disorders, including anorexia, bulimia, binge eating disorder or borderline conditions. Bulimia and anorexia affect 3-5 percent of middle and high school girls, it reported.

32. Here is the story gone bad (again)… According to the National Eating Disorder Association, 5-10 million girls and women and one million boys and men are struggling with eating disorders, including anorexia, bulimia, binge eating disorder, or borderline conditions. “I have a friend who is real skinny,” junior Sally Clueless said. “I bet she has anorexia.” Teens with bulimia eat a lot and then vomit. “Yeah. I think puking after eating is really gross,” senior Lucy Littlebrain said. “Puking gives you really bad breath.”

33. And it continues … But not everyone has an eating disorder. “I love to eat,” said junior Chuck Up. “When we go to Cici’s I eat like 20 slices of pizza. I’m getting hungry just talking about it.”

34. So? What can we do to fix the story?

35. Kimiko Soldati remembers exactly when her bulimia started. She was transferring from Colorado State to Indiana University, and one day she felt she had eaten too much. "The idea popped into my head that I could get rid of this," she says. And so she threw up. That set her on a desperate course. At one point, she says, she was "purging pretty much everything I ate. I was so obsessed about calories that I didn't want to chew gum because there are 5 calories in a stick."

36. How about those things that occur every year at your school?

37. Prom • Policy changes • Homecoming • TAKS results • Graduation

38. How can you cover those things in a NEW way?

39. The typical prom story … On April 15, 200 BHS students attended prom. The theme this year was “Star Studded Night.” “Prom was cool this year,” senior Jack Lamo said. “I liked the pictures of celebrities on the tables.” Some seniors said they didn’t like the food at prom this year. “Last year the food was better,” Candy Flavor said. “This year it stunk.” Rhonda Popular and Mitch Handsome won prom king and queen. “I can’t believe I won,” Popular said. “It was such a shock.”

40. Gillian Ruiz never thought she would go to prom. She’s a self-described “plain-looking nerd.” So when senior football captain Tom Hunhel asked her, she was more than a little shocked. “We were lab partners in science,” she said. “I thought he was cute, but I didn’t think he even knew I existed outside of the science class. He hangs with the popular crowd, and I hang with the computer geeks.” But Tom said he has had a crush on Gillian since science teacher Greg Hill paired them together. “She’s so down-to-earth and so dang pretty,” Tom said. “Most high school girls spend hours putting on gobs of make-up and tons of hairspray to impress the guys. But none of that stuff impresses me.” Gillian did accept Tom’s invitation, but now she’s a little worried about the outcome.

41. “I don’t know how to dance – at all,” she said. “My mom is giving me a crash course. I have two left feet.” Gillian also said she has no idea what to wear. “My usual attire is a T-shirt and jeans from Old Navy,” she said. “I don’t even know what stores carry prom dresses.” Tom isn’t worried though. “I don’t care if she steps on my feet a hundred times or wears her favorite T-shirt to prom,” he said. “I am just so glad she will be there with me.”

42. The typical new policy story … This school year students who are late to class are sent to the tardy lock-out room for that entire class period. Principal Dan Jones said he started the tardy lock-out policy because too many students are tardy. “We have a tardy problem,” he said. “Hopefully, this new policy will encourage students to be in class on time.” Sandy Dandy said she went to the tardy lock-out room twice. “It really is boring,” Dandy said. “I don’t plan on being tardy again.”

43. What if we found someone who was really affected by the change … Rafael Martinez lives for baseball. He plays it every month of the year. His room consists of baseball bats, catcher equipments, old and new gloves, trophies and literally hundreds of balls. He was the leading hitter for the varsity team last year. But because of the new tardy policy, Martinez may be sitting this season out. “If I get one more tardy in first period, I will lose credit for the class,” he said. “If that happens, I am not eligible.”

44. Martinez said he doesn’t have anyone to blame but himself. “I am not a fan of the new policy, but I know Principal (Dan) Jones was trying to solve our tardy problem,” he said. So far this year, Martinez has been in the tardy lock-out room six times, four for first period. After five unexcused absences, a student loses credit for that class. “I sleep through my alarm a lot,” he said. “My parents both go to work really early so I am home alone.” Since the tardy policy began in January, Principal Jones said the amount of tardies has dropped dramatically. “Last semester we averaged 200 tardies a day,” Jones said. “We are down to about 25 a day now.” Jones said while he knows the policy is working, he does not want to see Martinez lose his eligibility. “I cut a deal with him,” Jones said. “I will call him every morning as a back up to his alarm clock if he promises to hit a home run every game.”

45. Here’s your assignment.

46. Before the next story assignment day in your newspaper class… • Read the local paper • Listen to NPR’s “All Things Considered” • Watch 20 minutes of a national news broadcast • Watch 20 minutes of “The Daily Show” • Visit the internet • Find one student who is affected by an ‘old’ story in a new way • Buy yourself and your teacher a donut • AND …

47. Produce 10 story ideas and come up with local angles for each. Then, eat your donut.