1 A student’s reflections Developing life skills with mentors and friends While it was sad to leave my mentors and friends at the Healthy Comet after fourth grade, I was ready to start writing for the East Norriton Bulldog Bulletin, another Healthy NewsWorks newspaper team. I faced new challenges. First, there were many more people in the group than in elemen- tary school. Second, the classroom was huge and full of computers. Similar to when I first joined the newspaper in third grade, I quickly became comfortable with my surroundings and soon knew everybody on the newspaper. This became my second newspaper family. Like in elementary school, I went on field trips to interview people about how they stay healthy. But what was different about East Norriton’s newspaper is that various people with medical degrees came to the school for interviews. We also Skyped with a sports medicine doctor and asked him about his career. Being involved in Healthy NewsWorks has really had an impact on my life. It has taught me about constructive criticism, time management, and public speaking. I also learned how to partner with others to get the job done. I had to have all these skills to be a reporter. But now I use these skills every day and they help me be a successful person in general. I don’t think I could’ve ever done this without Healthy NewsWorks. — By Kayla Sparks Kayla is an eighth grader at East Norriton Middle School. I started in the Healthy NewsWorks program when I was in third grade. This was my first year of public school and I wanted to join a school group that expressed my interest in writing. I joined the school health newspaper, the Cole Manor Healthy Comet. I remember being nervous when I arrived at the first meeting. I didn’t know what to expect. However, after the meeting I felt completely comfortable. I knew all the people on the newspaper. I felt like we were a family. From that first meeting, I loved being on the Healthy Comet. I loved interviewing teachers and students about how they liked to stay healthy. It was great preparation for real-life interviewing. I felt so professional asking adults questions about how they stay healthy and their recommendations about what kids should do for their health. The fourth graders in the group were great role mod- els and showed me how to interview and put together a story. It was sad when they left, but the next year I was a fourth grader and I was a role model for all the other kids in newspaper. I even remember going on a field trip to WHYY-FM radio station in Philadelphia.