A story and photo package on the More page of last Saturday’s paper is the kind of news small-town papers run as often as possible.
It’s as non-controversial as it can be. It’s a feel-good report with lots of local faces in it. It’s the Invention Convention put on by fourth graders at North Pike Lower Elementary School.
The story of how it got in the paper, and actually how it almost didn’t, is column worthy. So here we go.
I have gotten in the habit of looking at week-old emails that went unread when they arrived to make sure I’m not missing something. On Monday evening, Dec. 16, this paid off when I came across a Dec. 10 email from Chelsey Wicker, the North Pike gifted teacher for grades 2, 3 and 4.
Fortunately, Wicker wrote a week in advance, and I saw her email just in time — the night before the gathering.
“I would love for you to come take photos and publish the students if at all possible to show off all their hard work,” she wrote.
Yes, yes, yes! This stuff is the bread and butter of local reporting. And the sad truth is, there’s not as much of it in the paper as there used to be.
That’s surely because it’s easier for somebody to put school news like this online. I understand that. Just a few clicks and you’re done. Both kids and parents may be more likely to see it there.
We’re online too, although few people visit our website or Facebook page to see school pictures. Still, the competition for viewers and readers continues.
Anyway, I wrote Wicker back, thanked her for contacting us and said we would have someone in the gym at the school the next morning.
I then forwarded her note to managing editor Matt Williamson, who said the event would make a perfect More page and he’d photograph it.
Mission accomplished — until 9 a.m. Tuesday, when I checked my phone and found a text message from Matt, who had fallen ill overnight.
Plan B was me, so off I went to North Pike. I got in the gym and visited with Wicker, who surprised me when she said she had given some information to “Mrs. Sowell.”
That would be April Sowell, our former teacher and part-time reporter. I wondered how Wicker had talked to April, but set that mystery aside and started getting pictures of students with their displays.
I had taken about four photos — the invention I liked most was Greta Barr’s Strike Zone Laundry, which allowed a kid to practice pitching by throwing clothes through a ring into a laundry basket — when there was a tap on my shoulder.
It was April, who got there before I did because Matt, unbeknownst to me, had asked her to take his place. This event was such a big deal that two people from the Enterprise-Journal covered it. How’s that for community service?
We laughed, and April said she had a bunch of pictures, so I thanked Wicker again and headed back to the office.
A bonus to my visit was bumping into Steve Pedigo. He is a North Pike equipment maintenance worker, and we bowled together many years ago. We had a great time catching up.
Later that day, Wicker emailed a picture of all 21 fourth graders who took part in the Invention Convention. It’s at the top of Saturday’s More page. The rest of the pictures are April’s. She did a great job with the photos and story.
I feel badly that we were only a few hours from missing the convention because of my crowded inbox. I looked it up, and from Dec. 1-19, I received a total of 1,447 emails, and that’s excluding spam.
That’s an average of 76 per day — hard to keep up with.
I want to encourage other teachers to let us know about activities at their schools. Two good rules in deciding whether to seek publicity are: Would parents like to see it? (Almost always yes.) And, would it make your school look good?
Another option would be to have someone at the school take a couple of pictures on a smartphone and email them to us. Osyka Elementary School does this all the time.
But I learned something else this week: If you send an email about an upcoming event, it wouldn’t hurt to follow up a day or two later with a phone call to make sure the recipient saw the note.
It worked out quite nicely for Wicker’s fourth graders. She is one of many local teachers who are working hard to unlock the potential of our children, and I appreciate her efforts.
It would be wonderful to show off what other teachers and schools are doing. Hopefully some of them will send an email — and then call.
