Students in the third, fourth and fifth grades at Springfield Plains Elementary worked together to create ‘Dolphin Splash,? the school’s first student newspaper.
The project lasted slightly over a month, with students gathering after school every Monday in November to plan their stories. Students interviewed school staff, drew comics, wrote poetry, science articles, advice and sports columns. When everything was finished, over 50 students contributed to the final product.
The plans for the student newspaper came from Ann McMichael. McMichael has three children at SPE – Ethen, Jordan and Riley – who were relocated from Independence Elementary over the summer due to redistricting. McMichael said she saw starting a school newspaper as a fun way for students, both new and relocated, to get to know each other. McMichael did not take credit for the idea though, saying her son Jordan told her that IE had a journalism club, but SPE did not.
‘I said ‘Well, let me work on that,?? McMichael said.
McMichael said she sent out a flyer asking for volunteers and got an overwhelming response. She said she was hoping for at least 30 students, but got much more than she expected.
McMichael said she was hoping to act as a guide, but did not give the students their assignments, they came up with their own ideas. The students scheduled and held their own interviews.
‘It’s fun and you learn so much about whatever you want to learn, so I didn’t really want to tell the kids what you have to do because I wanted them to use their imagination and creativity,? said McMichael.
Students brought their work to the after-school meetings where volunteer teachers and parents assisted. In particular, McMichael said she was very thankful for the help from fifth-grade teacher Sandy Schutte and parent Renea Huth.
With so many contributors, McMichael had to work to make everything fit in the space she allottd.
‘There were 28 cartoons and that’s why I had to reduce them, because it was just so many, but it turned out okay because you can still see them,? she said. ‘Normally, I would have given each cartoon their own page, front and back, but…we’re trying to keep the cost of paper down. There’s like 560 kids and we’re going to make sure… that every kids gets a paper.?
The front page of the paper features a dolphin, the school’s mascot, and the tagline ‘News with a Porpoise.? McMichael chose the pun slogan, which was submitted by a student, because she felt the paper contained a lot of information that would be helpful for students to read.
With the first issue now on the presses, McMichael said she plans to have a second issue in the winter. McMichael said she hopes to tweak how the club works next semester, and also hopes to include a send-off to SPE fifth graders in the next issue.
Any parents interested in helping can contact Ann McMichael at 248-625-5295 or e-mail at glmamm@yahoo.com

Several students work on the final editing ‘Dolphin Splash,? the first student newspaper at SPE. Photo by Andrew DuPont

Clarkston News Reporter Andrew DuPont answered questions about newspapers at the group’s press party on Dec. 12. Photo by Ann McMichael.