Mini Caton Conversation Issue #4

The Conversation

Caton

Friday May 28th, 2021

The PS249 Student Newspaper

Saying Goodbye to P.S. 249

Want To Be A Student Editor?

5th grade students at P.S.249 prepare to graduate into a whole new world.

By P.S. 249 Editorial Staff

Oh what a year it has been… filled with many trials and tribulations making the P.S. 249 family more resilient than ever! Together we went through school closures to remote learning to partially in-person days and back. All that we have left to do is look forward to a better, brighter future where we are all together again under the same roof!

Continued on page 3-4.

Student editor Serenity Andrews with her emotional support stuffie.

By P.S. 249 Editorial Staff
This year P.S.249 began a student run newspaper, The Caton Conversation. Student editors had to learn a LOT about making a newspaper. Although it was challenging at times, we learned from our mistakes and had fun. It was really amazing to see other kids reading our articles and the articles we worked on as an editor. So to give you an idea of what being a student editor is like, we interviewed each other.
Continued on pages 5-6.

...Saying Goodbye to P.S.249

During this time, Student Editor Maria shared that she did not know what to expect... What subjects were going to be taught and how the teachers were going teach them! Student Editors Daniella, Destini, and Grecia all expressed their frustration about not knowing how to use their devices and dealing with unreliable internet connection that caused them to miss class and feel lost. There were times when they were not able to understand classwork and assignments because of all the technical problems and lack of in-person instruction.

When they were finally in class, they felt overwhelmed because it was too much work assigned that took a long time to complete with the expectation of completing it fast. Not to mention, having to participate in all of the other extracurricular activities like afterschool, Camba, the Newspaper Club, and working on the School Newspaper.

Other challenges our student editors experienced were struggling to wake up in the morning to be excited about learning from a screen for over 5 hours a day, while dealing with distractions and family matters at home. Student Editor Serenity

was honest enough to share that sometimes kids just got lazy and tired from being online all day that they did not feel like being in school or completing assignments.

Although the beginning of the year was very challenging, our student editors adjusted to the demands placed on them and did their best to get ready for graduation! Time flew by so quick that all of a sudden they began thinking and having mixed feelings about graduating. Daniella was disappointed that the graduation ceremony is virtual with no caps and gowns to wear. Grecia is sad about not having a real prom and having to say goodbye to everyone virtually. Maria wondered and felt nervous about what middle school might look like. Serenity shared how scary it feels to think about traveling to school on public transportation alone. Daniella shared about not feeling ready to leave her little sister behind at P.S. 249, but feeling confident that she will do great here. Along with the other student editors, Destiny is sad to leave and anticipates the challenges of going to a new school and meeting new friends, but they all know they need to move on to a new chapter in their great journey of life!

...Saying Goodbye to P.S.249

It was so inspiring to hear their stories about how they coped through all the difficulties and became more resilient! Serenity shared that she uses positive self-talk during times that she wanted to give up. She would tell herself, “I got this!” and “Try your best!” Similarly, Destiny would tell herself, “keep going” which made her feel like she can achieve more than she thought. Daniella would take deep breaths, give herself breaks, and make goals for herself to improve in areas she struggled with, such as joining class on time. Maria shared that playing with her cat in between breaks would make her feel happy and allow her to be more productive.

Together, our student editors know the importance of using healthy coping activities and talking to people that care about you when you feel stress to get the support to accomplish your goals. It is with pride and care that they share these final words!

"Somedays will be negative but just make them into positive days by having some fun!"
- Daniella

Student Editor's
Words of

"Try your best!"
- Serenity

"Sometimes it will be challenging but try your best and set goals!"
- Daniella

"Feel hopeful when
teacher's give you inspiration!"
- Daniella

"Keep trying even though things can be difficult... You can still succeed and accomplish!"
- Destini

Continued from Page 1

What are the duties of a student editor?
First off, you have to come to the meetings and PARTICIPATE! There's a lot of work to do to make the newspaper good. So if you are going to be an editor, you have to be prepared to do it. It's also important to finish your assigned work on time. Not all the work will be done in the meeting, you will need to find time after school and on weekends to finish.

One of the best things we did was come up with new topics to write about. It was our idea to do poetry in April, because it is national poetry month and some of us were in Soccer Poetry . So we made poetry the theme for the issue.

Another important job is reading submissions and choosing the articles. This is cool because you pick articles that are interesting, original and written really well. Not every submission can make it into the paper. Sometimes we had a lot of similar articles so we had to choose the best ones.

Once we choose the articles we have to go over the writing carefully and edit it by making sure the writer spelled everything correctly, and used the right punctuation, capitalization and grammar. Sometimes we need two people to do this work, it takes close attention to detail!

Next, we layout the articles in the newspaper. This is the part where we design what the pages will look like. We add pictures, links to related videos or research, pick a big font for the title, choose background and just try and make it something we would be interested in reading.

Finally, once the newspaper is done, we need to tell others about the new issue! We presented at assemblies, talked about it on Google Classroom and in the announcements. It's important for people to know about the newspaper, so more and more people can read it.

How much time do you have to put in?
We met in the afternoon twice a week, at 3pm Mondays and Fridays. When we start out the month we are working on our own feature articles. This is less work than the submissions, but it takes time. We work on that for a week, doing research and writing it. When we get submissions that's when it's busy. We have a deadline to finish editing and laying out the articles. So the at the end of the month we work not only in meetings but at home about around 1-2 hours a week.

What are the best things about being a student editor?
Grecia: Friendship and my best friend : ) Also working together:)
Maria: The best thing about being an editor is getting to see all your classmates and other grade articles!
Daniella: I agree! Seeing other people's articles is really fun, sometimes they write about something you remember learning when you were in that grade.
Destini: The best thing about being student editor is that we get to work together and we can all get our ideas down. We take time to research and write articles we are proud of.
Valena: Being able to see articles from other grades is so cool, you feel like you have a big responsibility when you edited it, which is fun.
Serenity: You're able to see people's reactions when they read the newspaper and you just feel proud after you're finished with it. It feels like you accomplished a lot, like playing on a team.

Any downsides to being a student editor?
Nothing is good all the time. Sometimes it can get a little frustrating being a student editor. When people don’t come to meetings, they miss a lot and it makes more work for everyone else.
Also, it can be hard when you can’t come to a meeting because you have something important to do. And it's frustrating when you can't finish your work on time, you don't want to let the others down.
Some days you are tired and get a little rude or someone else can be a little rude too. Thats like any sport or club after school, there are gonna be some days like that sometimes.