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Honing young noses for news

Interests range from forest fires to political news

Students are honing their nose for the news.

At District School Board Ontario North East's three-week summer literacy program, students went through newspapers and news coverage to prepare for a visit from local journalists.

“This summer our focus is on writing, we have had a partnership with Science Timmins and they have come to visit each site for two sessions to challenge the children with STEM activities, which have driven authentic reading and writing experiences,” said Jody Pecore, principal of the summer school.

Today, the students heard what it’s like to be a reporter, what typical day looks like, and even learned tips on how to write a news story.

“With the focus being on writing, the goal was for them to have them have an experience to speak with professionals who write and report on a daily basis,” said Pecore.

Having learned a few new skills, the students will now get to write their own articles.

“The students are very interested in what is happening with the forest fire situation in Timmins currently and they were very interested in some political news, things that were happening in the United States with Donald Trump,” she said.

The forest fires are what Rya Lamirand and James Dubuc want to focus on.

“I’m going to write about that fire, the one at Elk Lake,” said James, adding that some are too still too big to handle.

Rya said she wanted to learn about reporting because it’s fun.

“Sometimes you get to go to places and take pictures,” she said, adding it’s something she might like to do.