School Librarian Tiffany Radford brought over two groups of students from the Fourth and Fifth grade to the Garretson Gazette last week. This field trip was to get them acquainted with Reporting, Photography, editing and the business of owning and operating a newspaper. South Dakota has 105 active newspapers in the state, with good laws in place to regulate their operation, freedom and independence. It’s why, when so many other states have lost local papers and news coverage, South Dakota has continued to survive and even thrive and excel.
The students asked extremely intelligent and dynamic questions and were very excited for the practical lessons joint owners Carrie and Garrick Moritz prepared for them. While Carrie gave the students a crash course in photography, Garrick showed them the principals of layout, design and editing.
“I was impressed with each group,” Garrick said. “The exercise I did took a look at the finished product, then started from scratch with what I considered the most important stories of the week, complete with photographs, and have the students pitch to me what the design of the paper should look like. We started with the front page and moved on as we had time. Each group of students had different ideas of what they thought was most important and arranged the front page in different way. They also pitched headlines to me, what they thought would grab the most attention and encapsulate what the story was about. I liked the ideas they came up with so very much that I honestly wish I’d had them on my deadline day, because their ideas were fresh and excellent. I might be biased here, I already knew that we have some brilliant kids at Garretson Elementary, but the point was brought home to me in a meaningful way last Thursday and I appreciated their visit and thoughtfulness more than I can truly express. I was truly inspired by these students.”
"We loved their questions," said Carrie. "Ms. Radford had already designed some questions the students could ask, but they showed a true curiosity and inquisitiveness that is necessary for being a good journalist."
