Fourth graders of The Magnet Express team at Tuscaloosa Magnet School got a lesson in reporting at a news conference on Thursday, which officially marked the move of NESPA to Tuscaloosa.
In a sign of things to come for the University of Alabama, fourth grade students from Tuscaloosa Magnet School asked the questions Thursday at a news conference held to mark the move of the National Elementary School Press Association (NESPA) to Tuscaloosa.
Journalists from The Magnet Express queried Founder and Outgoing NESPA Director Mark Levin and Incoming Director Meredith Cummings about where the 750-member association has come since it started 17 years ago in Asheville, NC and where the organization might go now as part of the UA Department of Journalism.
NESPA’s move to the Tuscaloosa campus became official March 1, 2012. Thursday’s announcement served as a rare opportunity for the elementary school journalists, who have produced two issues of The Magnet Express this year, to work alongside those from professional news media from Tuscaloosa and Birmingham who covered the news conference.
Tuscaloosa Magnet School Fourth Graders Markell Tucker and Alex Washington show off their work on The Magnet Express.
“We think it’s a really important that the University of Alabama helps the schools in our state, said Dr. Jennifer Chair, chair of the UA Journalism Department. ” Now with this association, we can help schools throughout the country. ”
Click here to see video of Jennifer Greer’s remarks.
The National Elementary School Press Association has members in each of the 50 states. Levin told the elementary school journalists Thursday that he started with just eight schools and the organization expanded very quickly.
His conversations with Cummings about the future of the organization began more than a year ago.
Click here to see more of Levin’s remarks at Thursday’s news conference.
NESPA joins the Alabama Scholastic Press Association, which is also based here at the University of Alabama. UA also sponsors the Multicultural Journalism Program (MJP), a 10-day summer workshop whose primary sponsor is the Dow Jones News Fund.
Besides The Magnet Express at The Tuscaloosa Magnet School, the UA Journalism Department’s outreach efforts to elementary school extend to at least three other schools in West Alabama.
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