11
and dozens of hands shot in the air, I
knew we had an exciting future ahead
of us.
here, you see the energy each time
they come in the lab -- they can’t
contain themselves,” Belanger said.
Now in its second year, Down
Under includes four Winfield faculty
members, six Tesserae mentors and a
wonderful, enthusiastic group of 20
third-fifth graders with a core of nine
veterans from the first edition.
The Tesserae/Down Under partnership
isn’t unique in the world of scholastic
journalism; there are other programs
bringing together high school
mentors and younger journalistsin-training across the country.
Tom Gayda, who advises multiple
publications at North Central
High School (Ind.), helped create
a collaborative opportunity for his
students and a group of elementary
school students this winter.
In the media lab at
Corning-Painted Post
High School, junior
Aimee Spisak checks in
with fellow Tesserae
staff member Jake
Russell and his team.
Russell, a junior, and
the four students in his
coverage group were
developing mods for a
spread on Winfield’s
recent spirit week
festivities.
Even though
they were new
to Tesserae in
September, a
group of our
first-year staff
members jumped
at the chance to
mentor students
for Down Under’s
second edition, junior Mira Belanger
among them.
“I like working with kids a lot, and I
like the idea of teaching little kids. I
love yearbook so much, and wanted
to share that. Everyone should get
that sense of camaraderie and of
doing something together,” Belanger
said. “The [software and resources]
that we use and that we’re taught
for Tesserae, it’s being used by
professionals. The kids aren’t going
to be using InDesign, but our online
program gets them ready, they can
say, when they come to the high
school, ‘Oh, I did this in 5th grade,’ and
they’ll be ready to go.”
Our mentors have found that working
with 20 elementary school students
can be be invigorating, too.
“The kids are very energetic. They’re
here to enjoy it, to have a good
time with their friends or make new
friends; I saw that with the fifth to the
third graders on the day we brought
in new members. They want to be
The fifth grade students met with
Gayda’s editors for some skills
development and training early in the
day on Jan. 30, then had a whirlwind
day of interviews with the sectionalsbound girls varsity basketball team,
a tour of the gymnasium with the
athletic director, a guest talk with a
sports reporter from the Indy Star,
and a press conference with the boys
coach prior to their game that night.
The editors and Gayda split their
MIKE SIMONS
Mike Simons, MJE, is the adviser of
Tesserae, the award-winning yearbook
at Corning-Painted Post High School in
Corning, NY, and serves as the president
of the Columbia Scholastic Press Advisers’
Association. Recognized as a 2015 JEA
Distinguished Yearbook Adviser, Simons
presents regularly at camps and workshops
nationwide and can most often be found
with a cup of coffee in hand. Simons
founded and advises his son’s elementary
school yearbook, Down Under, and his
high school staffs have been recognized
multiple times with CSPA Crown and NSPA
Pacemaker awards. He and his wife li ve
in upstate New York with their four young
children.
mentees into four groups at game
time: reporting, social media, video
and photography; the fifth graders
had notebooks and press passes in
hand as they covered the game.
Matt Rasgorshek, adviser at Westside
High School in Omaha, responded
to interest from April Bridwell, a
colleague at Swanson Elementary,
who wanted to give her students
an opportunity to learn more about
video broadcast production.
“We jumped at the chance and
worked with [Bridwell’s students]
throughout the year. We’d go to their
school and help them with writing,
on-air presence, do some postshow analysis, and more. The sixth
graders loved it as did my students.
They thought it was pretty fulfilling,”
Rasgorshek said. The 6th grade
students’ production aired every
other week and continues this year.
The long-term payoffs for
partnerships like these will come to
fruition if and when former mentees
join a high school publication staff. In
the meantime, younger students who
share in journalism-based activities
and team-driven projects will come
away with skills that will make them
better students and classmates as
they continue their path through
elementary school. There are other
rewards to be had in the short-term,
though.
“When the book comes in, and my
kids look at that and they say, ‘We did
that with Mira,’ that would make me
really happy,” Belanger said. “When
they see all the hard work they put
into it, and go from the screen in front
of them to holding it in their hands,
to see their faces on that day -- that’ll
be awesome. I can’t wait -- that’ll be
really rewarding.”