Sunday, 18 June 2006
Beth: Coming up for air
I'm slowly resurfacing from a hectic spring on the education beat, full of plays, national competitions, end-of-the-year activities, and other such newsworthy (or quasi-newsworthy, as is the case with a smaller local paper) events at the local schools. My editors weren't kidding when they promised me a busy spring. As Christian mentioned, way back when, one national competition took me on my very first official business trip - to Indiana, of all places - to cover the national Science Olympiad. I'm happy to say that the trip was not in vain, either, as the three teams I was covering all managed to place very well. As Christian remarked, my articles are bound to be forever preserved in hundreds of scrapbooks throughout our coverage area.
But that final bell rang a week ago, and those students have since scattered to...wherever it is that they go for the summer. In all likelihood, the beach. Which begs the question: what does the education reporter do all summer? I've been asked that question several times in the last two weeks. To which I have to reply: I'm new at this too. I'm not quite sure, either. However, summer is when this town comes alive with festivals, parties, picnics, fireworks and carnivals, and it's likely that I'll cover my fair share of those. In addition, one reporter just gave birth and another is leaving us in a month - so I'm sure there will be a good amount of coverage overlap. Ah well...versatility is always looked upon with favor!
Speaking personally, the summer is shaping up to be a nice one, as well. We've only had a few unbearably hot days so far (although Bill Steffen is predicting a warmer than usual summer!) and the Frutmost Lemonade is back at Meijer. (Mmmm...perfection in a glass.) Astute readers have also noticed that we celebrated Christian's 25th birthday last weekend, with a trip to the Kalamazoo Air Zoo. He's too humble to ever suggest that a fuss should be made on his behalf, so allow me to do it: Happy Birthday!
And just to prove that not too much has changed around here, in our true procrastinating fashion, we've spent a good portion of this weekend looking at where we want to go and determining accomodations for our anniversary trip. Yeah, we leave next Saturday. We've known where we want to go for quite a while now, but never got around to doing anything about it. We're still looking for places to stay on Saturday and Sunday nights. Nothing like last-minute plans.
What other people had to say
Erin wrote:
What does an education reporter do all summer long? It's a good question. So far, I've still managed to come up with a few school-related stories. On the queue for this week is a look at the lobbyist one school district employs and a few calls to see if other schools in the area also use a lobbyist. Then it's on to whatever other trend stories (non-education stuff) I can find. Oh, and I want to do a 4-H news feature. That's still student-ish. And I like to check out Al's Morning Meeting at Poynter for other good ideas. I even used one two weeks ago.
megan wrote:
Where ya going?!
Christian wrote:
We're heading to Toronto and Niagara Falls; should be fun!
Melissa (Slager) wrote:
Calvin alum turn ed-beaters...must be a trend! Well, with my four-day week, I've got plenty of school stories to write (budgets, lawsuits, summer state prepping). But am also finding time for things that interest me -- like the search by local amateur astronomers for a piece of Dark Sky in e'ern WA. :-)
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