Thank you to the Harvard Press for nominating last spring’s Husky Headlines collaboration for a New England Newspaper & Press Association award. The category we placed in was “community/audience Involvement.”
The community is the only reason this recognition was possible.
Together, we placed third in New England, and Hildreth Elementary School newspaper club kids are a huge part of this. It is so gratifying to see kids in third, fourth, and fifth grades recognized for their work as writers, photographers, illustrators, and team members. The community engagement only begins with the students.
Thank you to parents who bring kids to school early to work on the paper, and to co-advisor Melissa Niland and parent volunteers (past and present) Jen Arner Welsh, Matt Cronin, Nate Finch, Amelia Ward, and Donna Guarino. We need so many volunteers because so many kids keep showing up.
The Husky Headlines kids have learned about copyrights, photography, and creating interesting interviews, thanks to HES teacher Marybeth Quaadgras, Press photographer Lisa Aciukewicz, and editor John Osborn.
There would be no Husky Headlines without Lena Aloise, who got it started as a fourth-grader back in 2018, along with students who were staffers from the start.
Thanks are also owed to the Harvard Schools Trust for our two lending cameras, and to Mandy Ostaszewski for acquiring the cameras during a supply chain crisis. Abby Kingsbury makes sure Harvard Public Library patrons can access Husky Headlines. Margi Hadorn, the HES copy assistant, manages the extra load of getting copies to classrooms when issues are ready. We thank the School Committee for recognizing Husky Headlines as a club and the administration for letting us take over part of the first floor twice a month. Thank you to staff members who have sat for interviews and to those who will be interviewed in the future.
Thank you to all the students who read Husky Headlines when it comes out at school and when featured in the Harvard Press.
This is truly an award for an engaged community and a bunch of fantastic kids.
Jen Manell
Stow Road
