St. Dominic's middle school student newspaper staff published its first issue in February 2000, with a readership of approximately 150 school families. The Flash has four sections: News, Feature, Sports, and Editorial. Its editorial board consists of an editor-in-chief, news page editor, feature page editor, sports page editor, editorial page editor, photography editor, and art editor. The remaining staff members serve as reporters, photographers, and cartoonists. Overall, about 15 - 20 students join The Flash staff each year.
The Flash is published monthly throughout the school year, funded exclusively through advertising space purchased by area business people. The staff begins its year at its weekly Wednesday meetings learning journalism basics under the instruction of advisor Marie Hetzel Ulrich. They learn the difference between writing a news story and writing a feature or editorial story, the "inverted pyramid" rule for writing lead paragraphs, and many other rules of style pertaining exclusively to The Flash.
At the beginning of each subsequent month, a mandatory Story Assignment meeting is held, where the staff decides which news-worthy stories to highlight in the upcoming issue. Stories are chosen with the interests of our readership in mind, as well as the local and global interests of our student body and our faculty. The next two or three meetings are voluntary "Work Day" meetings, when the students can spend time writing their stories and/or asking their advisor for help or ideas. And finally, the following week is Deadline, when all materials are due at the beginning of the hour to allow staff members time to proof-read and edit each others' stories.
In May 2003, The Flash doubled its readership when the St. Dominic Development Committee decided to begin mailing the paper to 200 parishioners and friends of St. Dominic. Recipients vary each month. The Flash staff is excited about expanding its readership! |
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Flash_1_0506.pdf
Flash_2_0506.pdf
Flash_3_0506.pdf
Flash_4_0506.pdf
Flash_5_0506.pdf
Flash_6_0506.pdf
Flash_7_0506.pdf
Flash_grad_0506.pdf
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