Field Trip to the E.O.

Link to Photo

On October 29th, 2014, a class of 8th graders went to their local news

paper, The East Oregonian, to become better journalists. According to one of the students, they left the building at approximately 12:45 p.m. The class went on a bus that took them to their destination. Meritza Arroyo, a local student, said, “ The building was big and I was surprised by all the different offices.” Meanwhile, the kids didn’t really know what they were in for.

As Daniel, the manager of the E.O., was giving the students a tour, the class was taking pictures on their electronic devices. A student, Faith Akers, had something to say about what happened next, “Daniel lead us into a big conference room where we all took a seat at a couple tables. Each seat had a notebook and pen so when we ask our questions, we would be able to write them down. Following us were two guys named E.J. (photographer), and Tim (reporter). They were the ones who we mainly asked the questions to.” The photographer, E.J., gave the students a lesson on how to take a decent photo. The main points that he had taught them was how to make a photo balanced, and how look at a photo in thirds. Although this was a learning experience, the class moved on to what they called, the best part.

The junior high students were directed into a new room where the newspapers actually are printed. They met a man with gray hair and bright blue that actually has worked in that building for over 20 years. Kyra Ford said to me, “ He taught us many things. Like how a printing machine doesn’t actually print directly on the paper and that the machine can print about 30,000 newspapers a day. He also showed us the colors they use and what it looks like on the paper.” 

Later, the students went out of the room and Tim lead them out of the building and they got back on the bus and left. “This was actually a fun experience for me. I enjoyed learning new things and how to be a better journalist,” said Faith Akers, “If I could, I would go back to that day and remember everything about it. I learned most of everything I needed to become something better than an ordinary writer.”