Brooklyn P.S. 107 fifth graders start student-run newspaper

The students of Public School 107 recently kickstarted their journalism careers, and are getting ready to release their second-ever edition of “The 5 Day Week”, their brand new student-run newspaper.

News 12 Staff

Nov 8, 2022, 3:27 AM

Updated 765 days ago

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Students at one Park Slope school are delivering the news to their classmates hot off the presses, after an idea turned into a massive project.
The students of Public School 107 recently kickstarted their journalism careers, and are getting ready to release their second-ever edition of “The 5 Day Week”, their brand new student-run newspaper. 
“It’s really fun because we get to our excitement and give excitement to others,” said fifth-grader Saryah Asoli. “It’s also really fun to design the newspaper and bring a lot of content together.”
Principal Joanna Cohen says it’s important to give students a voice to express themselves. She says she saw the paper’s potential. 
"It was more of their class newspaper. It was very focused on what was happening in their specific classroom,” said Cohen. “I approached the kids in the beginning of the fifth grade year - they were all in.”
The students have a classroom that serves as the newspaper’s newsroom, where they have weekly meetings to discuss what goes into their paper. The approved paper is then given to the principal’s office, which doubles as their printing press. 
Roughly 150 issues are printed for the entire school. The paper includes fun activities like a word search and events. 
They will next expand with more content, something that Cohen says she is confident they can do.
“Their voice is powerful,” said Cohen. “They can be agents of change and they can actually put their ideas into action.”
The students are considering publishing their paper online soon.