FCMS newspaper wins second place at national contest

Less than a year after it started, Franklin Community Middle School’s newspaper is nationally decorated.

The National Scholastic Press Association awarded The Paw Post second place among U.S. middle school newspapers at the Spring National High School Journalism Convention in San Francisco earlier this month.

The Paw Post, which went online earlier this month and is printed every other week, was born of student interest. As Addison Holman finished her seventh-grade year, she spoke to her English Language Arts teacher Katy Sonksen about an idea to start a student publication for eighth graders.

“I was watching ‘Gilmore Girls’ one night and Rory, the main character, was on the student newspaper at her school. I had an idea to start the newspaper and I talked to Ms. Sonksen about it and she thought it was a good idea,” Holman said. “I went to her with a couple ideas and talked to her about what I wanted it to look like. I suggested a few people, got us all together and we improvised from there.”

The idea came to fruition, and Sonksen now serves as Journalism Club advisor.

Holman covers sports for the paper, including middle school football, basketball, swimming, wrestling and tennis. It’s something she wants to do in college and beyond.

“I’ve always had a close connection with sports. I’m from an athletic family and I understand it enough to be able to write about it,” Holman said. “Interviewing people is really fun because I’m in control and get to make the questions. I get to decide which path to take the interview down. (I also enjoy) the social aspect. I’ve made a lot of friends during this and I have a lot of fun.”

The Paw Post’s subject matter ranges from sports to arts and music to students using concepts of science, technology, engineering and math, or STEM to race dragster cars, something Eli Demaree covered for the April 18 issue.

Demaree also creates crossword puzzles and participates in a side-by-side column called “eternal questions,” where he’ll debate contentious topics such as “is water wet?” and “is ketchup a jam?” with another writer.

“I always liked writing, I find it fun and easy, and thought it would be fun to join,” Demaree said. “I learned how to write better informational works and how to interview people, which I was not good at before.”

Students also delve into enterprise topics that affect students well beyond Indiana.

Molly Lauden wrote about student anxiety earlier this year, has done features on student artists and most recently wrote an article about the issue of sexual assault in middle schools, which she’s entered into the New York Times Student Editorial Contest.

“It interests me because it’s in discussion a lot but it’s never geared at middle school and statistics for middle school lie in the weeds,” Lauden said. “It’s a prominent topic that needs to be showcased. I go in with an open mind trying to look at the most shocking statistics and those that affect this particular demographic. It’s very statistical but also opinion-based about why it matters.”

Taylor McHenry also entered the student editorial contest, writing about the costs of menstrual products. She’s gathered statistics and plans to speak with an OBGYN about how costs are affecting women.

“For the New York Times, I’m writing about the pink tax in period products and the expenses that come with that, how a lot of women have a hard time obtaining products due to expenses and availability and how that’s affecting people,” McHenry said. “I really do like investigative journalism, telling people’s stories and getting the truth.”

Earlier this year, she wrote about the discontinuation of the school’s recycling program, which resulted in the program’s reinstatement.

The Paw Post is an outlet for students who can explore their interests in a creative and productive way, said Sonksen, a University of Indianapolis graduate who previously taught journalism and mass media at Broad Ripple Magnet High School before the school closed in 2018.

“They are journalists, they walk around with press passes on career day and explore their interests. They become invested in wanting to keep doing this as they grow up,” Sonksen said. “It’s never my job to assign them article ideas. Instead, I empower them to tell the stories they want to tell, organize their ideas on paper and help them tell their stories in clear and impactful ways.”

Franklin Community High School hasn’t had a student newspaper in about a decade, and it will be up to the current eighth graders to push for publication, just as they did at Franklin Middle School last year, Sonksen said.

“With this group coming in, I hope students feel empowered to push for a program like this at the high school,” she said. “I don’t know what my role would look like, but I would be open to helping them along their journey.”