Colonial School Times: Young Pelham Editors visit PMHS to Learn Publishing

By Maddie Samaan, Jacob Hartmere, and Sophia Leung, Staff Editors

PMHS — The Colonial Times editors visited here at the end of February to learn about working on a high school newspaper.

The Pel Mel staff taught the fifth graders things like fact checking, which is checking your facts to make sure they're correct. The high schoolers also taught the steps that they take, including brainstorming, assigning, write your first draft, factcheck it and final draft. The fifth graders were hosted in the Pel Mel newsroom where the Pel Mel editors showed the latest print paper and how they worked on it.

The Colonial editors learned  the Pel Mel name was originally thought up in 1924. Sections in the Pel Mel include news, sports, features, editorials and special features. Each staff member writes two to three articles a month and makes use of a calendar with big upcoming events around Pelham.

"I think students have a hard time sometimes managing their time," said Mr. Neil Schleifer, journalism teacher and advisor to the Pel-Mel. "This class always has a deadline. My favorite part is seeing the newspaper. I love seeing it from being just an idea to being tangible."

Co-features editor Diana Chandler said, "It's always nice to have a partner" to work with. It was her first year on the newspaper, and she was nervous about writing her first story because she wanted to write something everybody would like.

This story also appears on the Colonial Times website.