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In October, the students at Earl Grey School welcomed me to their classroom.
On Tuesday, it was my chance to return the favour by inviting them to our newsroom and a tour of the Free Press.
I fondly remember school field trips from my own childhood. My hope is that their Free Press field trip will also have a lasting impact, because the kids from Earl Grey aren’t just any students — they’re fellow reporters.
Some background: Earl Grey has been the leading edge of our media literacy project, which is available free of charge for schools across the province.
Their classroom-cum-newsroom was the site of a news conference with Education Minister Tracy Schmidt during October’s Media Literacy Week, officially kicking off our new initiative.
The work they have done with their student newspaper, the Earl Grey Press, earned them a standing ovation in the Manitoba Legislature in the spring.
Earl Grey School students flip through the Earl Grey Press last fall. (Ruth Bonneville / Free press files)
And my sources say the aspiring journalists in Ms. Godinez Goodman’s class were still buzzing this morning about all they witnessed during their Free Press field trip.
I’m humbled that, in an age when social media influencers crowd out the voices of trusted media sources, kids can still get excited about a field trip to a 154-year-old institution like the Free Press.
Earl Grey students talk to reporter Tyler Searle in the newsroom. (Free Press)
Students see the wonderous machines that turn out the print edition every evening. (Free Press)
I’m encouraged that the time they’ve spent this year reading what our reporters wrote — and then reporting for their own newspaper — is helping shape how they understand the world around them.
And as governments move to impose social media bans for kids, they might have even more time to spend with the Free Press.
I’m not sure what I expected when I stood in front of the class at Earl Grey in October. But as this school year winds down, I wouldn’t be surprised to learn that these kids spend some of their summer holidays reading our newspaper.
In other words, I can’t wait to read the headlines in the Earl Grey Press come September.
Earl Grey students following their tour. (Free Press)
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