Keith High journalism class publishes second newspaper in partnership with BBNN

Students at Keith High School in Orrville have published the second edition of their student newspaper through a journalism class launched earlier this year in partnership with the Black Belt News Network.

The first edition of the Keith Bear Nation News, created as part of BBNN’s Teen Press Initiative, was released in March before Spring Break. The second edition was distributed to students on Thursday and shared with families during graduation festivities later that evening.

The Teen Press Initiative is part of BBNN’s Black Belt Media Lab and aims to amplify student voices while helping support the future of rural journalism across Alabama’s Black Belt.

The class started in January and BBNN Publisher Cindy Fisher hopes to expand the program to other Black Belt high schools in the future.

The Bear Nation News covers school activities, sports, student life and issues important to students. The second edition included student polls on cafeteria food and the school dress code, and this issue featured photos from prom and field trips throughout the semester to help fill a gap left by the school’s inability to afford to produce a yearbook the last several years.

The class is taught by Keith High School teacher Kiesela Foster with weekly visits from BBNN Publisher Cindy Fisher. Fisher, working alongside Foster, introduced students to interviewing, fact-checking, photography and other journalism fundamentals while they reported on stories from their school and community. This second edition included a feature on the newly built Orrville library that is scheduled to open this summer.

“The students have really taken ownership of the newspaper,” Foster said. “They’re learning how to interview people, work as a team and think critically about the stories they want to tell. Seeing the excitement when the papers arrived has been special.”

Fisher said the initiative was designed to give students practical skills and a platform to share their perspectives through this print school paper and with their stories running online at BlackBeltNewsNetwork.com.

“We wanted students to have an opportunity to tell the stories of their school in their own voices,” Fisher said. “They’re gaining real-world experience while also creating something their classmates and families can keep and look back on.”

Both editions of the Bear Nation News were printed using paper donated by International Paper and produced locally by Colony Printers.

Fisher said the Keith High School effort is intended to serve as a pilot program for similar journalism initiatives in other rural schools.

“The goal is to help students build confidence as storytellers and create stronger connections within their communities,” she said. “We hope this is just the beginning.”

Read the second edition of Bear Nation News here.