Kaleb Barnum, Andrew Garza, and Max Schreiner, journalism students at SJHS.

Cody Woolsey
SJHS Staff Writer

The first school newspaper was a big hit around the school. But many students school-wide do not know the hard work and dedication it took to write all of the articles and publish it into a newspaper. Read on to learn about the process it took to make the newspaper.

“We had to wait almost the entire first term before we had enough articles to publish into a newspaper,” said Max Schreiner, a journalism student at SJHS. The process of making a single article takes about a week. It starts with journalism students picking an article topic, then they brainstorm ideas for your article like who can be interviewed and what you need to know.

Next, journalism students interview people who have something to do with their chosen topic. Then they use an “inverted pyramid,” which looks like an upside-down pyramid to plan out their article in order of importance, with the most important information being shared at the beginning of the article.

After planning out the article, journalism students then write the first draft; but that’s not the end of it. After that they get a “Peer Review” which is when one of the fellow journalism students read the article and make sure it is ready for the second draft. They then get their article edited by another student, and after making all their changes, turn their article to Ms. Miley for the final editing and grading process.

“I don’t grade too hard–I just make sure that the basic requirements for news writing are met.  But I do edit pretty carefully since our articles end up in the newspaper,” explained Ms. Tiffanie Miley, the journalism teacher at SJHS. After students get their articles back, they take a picture and email Ms. Miley their finalized article.  Ms. Miley formats the school newspaper and sends it to the Springville Herald, who then sends it to the printer.

“When I see my article published in the paper I feel excited,” said Jacob DeRosia, another Journalism student at SJHS, “it’s pretty cool to see something you wrote in a newspaper.” Even though it’s a lot of work to get the newspaper up and running, it’s very rewarding in the end. We enjoy your comments on the newspaper and hope you enjoy the new ones to come!

The journalism class taking a break from writing articles in the library computer lab.  Left to right:  Spencer Duncan, Jack Setzer, Hayde Blanco, Sarah Jensen, Katya Wagstaff, Ms. Miley, Kaleb Barnum, Cody Woolsey, Andrew Garza, Christopher Taylor and Jacob DeRosia.

Chelsea Ricks
SJHS Staff Writer

Ms. Tiffanie Miley teaches seventh grade Language Arts, Reading for Enjoyment, and the Journalism class at SJHS; she is a very busy teacher! Ms. Miley decided to become teacher because of her good teachers in high school. She enjoyed to reading so decided to teach English. She loves coming to work everyday, and considers herself lucky to have a job she enjoys.

This is Ms. Miley’s eleventh year at SJHS, and she chose to teach here because, “There are so many good kids at the junior high!” Morgan Bowser, a student in Ms. Miley’s class, thinks that she is a nice teacher and is very patient. Max Schreiner, another student that has Ms. Miley, thinks she has “good teaching strategies and she also is very helpful.”

Ms. Miley likes teaching Language Arts because, “We get to read fun books together and the seventh graders are very easy to like.” Ms. Miley helps her students learn reading strategies and better writing techniques.

She enjoys journalism because the students are very “self motivated.” In journalism the students write about things that are going on at our school, Springville Junior High. If the article, meets all of the expectations the students ave the opportunity to be published in the Springville Herald Newspaper.

The Reading for Enjoyment class reads their own books. They then discuss the different books they are reading and what they enjoy about them. Ms. Miley, with all those classes, is a great teacher in all of them!

Your informers from SJHS. Front row, left to right:  Jacob Simmons, Spencer Duncan, Jennifer Galindo, Kara Dunn,  and Jack Setzer.  Second row:  Brooke Seaton, Morgan Bowser, Shyenaia Luna, Jacob DeRosia, and Cody Woolsey.  Third row:  Chelsea Ricks, Katya Wagstaff, Julie Barbosa, Hayde Blanco, and Christopher Taylor.  Back row:  Max Schreiner, Andrew Garza, Kaleb Barnum, Sarah Jensen, Jose Martinez, and Kenia Martinez.

Jacob Simmons
SJHS Staff Writer

With the new school year, Springville Junior High School has a new journalism class to bring you information about the school and its surroundings.

The journalism class is taught by Ms. Tiffanie Miley, who also teaches seventh grade English. “I enjoy teaching journalism because it’s a class with an immediate real-life application,” said Ms. Miley. She continued to say that because of the real-life nature of the class, it motivates her students to do their best work. Surely, many teachers would like that.

Students enjoy the class too, Jack Setzer, a journalism student, said one of his favorite things about the class was going out to interview students and teachers. Kara Dunn, another member of the class, said, “I love this class, and being able to move at our own pace while writing about what we want.”  Max Schreiner, another member, said he enjoyed being able to move at his own pace too.

As a class, the journalism students brainstorm a list of things that are going on at the school, and around the school. They then choose a topic they want to write about, brainstorm about the topic, and gather information through interviews. Following the interviews, the students, draft, edit, and review each others work, and finally e-mail their article to Ms. Miley who submits the best articles to Springville Herald.

“We love the young people who write for the Springville Herald,” said Pat Conover, an editor for the Herald. SJHS finds their articles in the paper rather often, much to the liking of the students, and their mentor, Ms. Miley.

For the first time in several years, this semester’s Journalism class is going to publish and distribute a paper to the students during school.

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Ria Swapp
SJHS Staff Writer

If you ever want a fun class with a fun teacher, then Ms. Tiffanie Miley’s journalism class is the way to go. Ms. Miley is the teacher of the Springville Junior High journalism class, and she provides her students with the education they need to write newspaper articles.

In this particular Journalism Class, there is an article due every week to week and a half. You have to pick a topic of your own liking and write an article about it. It’s not too hard, you just always have to think about your topic and keep in mind what you are writing about. You also have to think of good enough questions to ask the people you interview so that they will give you enough information on your topic. There is about four or five articles due all together in one term.

Ms. Miley is very easy going when it comes to consequences for her students. According to Ms. Miley, she never needs to give out any punishments in journalism because, “Students in my journalism class enjoy writing and are really self-motivated. They are just good everyday.”

If the students have been well behaved, Ms. Miley will allow a day of word games or board games for the students to play. She says, “It’s fun to give my students a break once in a while because they really are good kids and work hard everyday.”

According to Ms. Miley’s student Kayla Price, the class is an easy “A” if you know how to write. “I enjoy this class,” Kayla said, “Ms. Miley is very easy to get along with and the class is a comfortable place to work in.” It is just like any other class. They do just as much work and they are expected to participate in class time as much as any other class. As Ms. Miley says, “I think grades are usually a reflection of the responsibility and work ethic that a student shows.”

Ms. Miley gives extra credit to anyone whose article gets published in the Springville Herald. This extra credit makes a big difference in some student’s grades. So if you ever contemplate getting into a journalism class, then Ms. Miley and her ten years at Springville Junior High School is the right place for you.

by Maddi Dayton
SJHS Staff Writer

As the tardy bell rings for fifth period to start, 23 bright young minds hurry into room 58, pull out their black binders, and drop into their desks with their minds wide open and ready to learn. Their job is simple; to be the eyes of the public, to let them see into the junior high, to let them know the truth. Not the watered down version or the bias version, but the whole truth and nothing but it. This is the Springville Junior High journalism staff.

“I like how once class starts you can work at your own pace, as long as you finish the article on time,” Maddie Patten, an eighth grade journalism student, honestly reports. At the start of class, students receive tips from their teacher, Ms. Tiffanie Miley, on how to improve their writing and then report on where they are in the writing process. After that they are free to get to work. During this time students do everything from drafting to interviewing while they try their hardest to get their articles newspaper-ready.

One thrill that journalism class brings is the opportunity to publish in the local paper, The Springville Herald. Christi Babbitt, a local paper reporter explains, “A partnership between the students and the paper benefits both; The students get valuable life experience and clips and the newspaper obtains the news it wants to share with its readers.” The kids love this opportunity. Jacob Simmons, a journalism student, says, “I like how we are challenged to do better work because only some get published.”

Journalism is a great class that prepares students for future jobs and scholarships. Being published in the newspaper is an excellent thing for students. Not only do they get published, but articles that they have written are great for scholarship applications and their portfolio. Journalism is a class that is both educational and fun, and any future eighth or ninth grader who loves to write should definitely consider taking it. There is so much to learn about writing, and the journalism students are learning it one article at a time.