Who, what, when, and where are the classic questions for the lead in a newspaper article. Maggie Dodge (TGS alumna, class of 2004), managing editor of the Extempore, Brattleboro Union High School's student newspaper, works on all facets of putting a paper together -- writing, editing and layout -- every Monday after school in the back of Room 205 at BUHS.
"I run meetings with Ms. Olson, the advisor, and I fill in when other people need help with anything," she said in an interview last week. "This year I hope to write an editorial for each issue."
"I really love seeing an issue when it's all done -- right before it goes to press -- it makes me so happy," she said. "You think back on all the trouble you had getting everything done, how to fit that picture onto that page, or how to get that headline to work, and you think, Oh, my god, I actually did it."
Dodge, a senior, has been working on the Extempore since the beginning of her sophomore year. As she took on editing responsibilities, she discovered how much careful work was required to put out the paper."When I first started layout, it surprised me how you had to pay attention to so many details," she recalled. "It seemed like, you put this here, and this here, and it looks nice -- but you have to be really meticulous and pay attention to a lot of stuff"
Dodge said some issues take more work than others. "For some issues, all the articles go smoothly on the pages, and everyone gets them done on time. But for some, there are a lot of problems, whether it's computer problems or layout problems, or reporters not being able to find people they're trying to interview so they can't get the article done -- and then it can become really stressful and annoying, because you just can't get the paper out."
Dodge said she enjoys almost every aspect of working on the newspaper."I don't think I can pick between layout and writing," she said. "I love writing features because you get to interview people, which I really like -- and the pieces are often about things that people are really interested in and might not get to hear about otherwise." "One of my favorite articles ever was last year when I wrote an article about the McLoughlins and the Libardonis and how both couples have a child working at BUHS in some capacity. That was fun, because I got to interview all of them," she continued. "Ms. Olson talked to me, and I had no idea that the McLoughlins and the Libs each had a child working at BUHS, and I thought many other people didn't know either."
While the Extempore sometimes deals with national issues, the newspaper approaches them from the student perspective."I think the content is always based around BUHS as a community, and people, and issues that affect students at BUHS," Dodge said. "One of the big topics for our upcoming issue will be the new changes in the school -- juniors can't go out to lunch, the new attendance policy, how it's changed from last year, the reasons for the change, and how people feel about it, and also the TV program at BUHS."
The Extempore has a strong readership at the high school. The decline of newspaper readership nationally doesn't concern Dodge."A lot of people at BUHS read the Reformer, and they read our paper, too," she said. "I also think it wouldn't be that difficult to transfer it to an online paper." For the immediate future, she would like to recruit more staff." We always need more members on the paper. We would love to have some freshmen," she said. "They could write articles, take pictures, learn how to do layout, copy-edit, write headlines -- they could do pretty much anything they wanted to."
MAGGIE CASSIDY
Maggie Cassidy teaches French at BUHS.
(c) 2007 Brattleboro Reformer. All rights reserved. Reproduced with
the permission of New England Newspapers, Inc.