Tuesday 17 March 2015

Kameyosek LIVE ON THE SCENE

As we exited our bus, the air buzzed with the excitement of having left the suburbia of Millwoods and journeyed towards our downtown destination. We were now “live on the scene”. After a group photo in the atrium, our week began the same way it would end, with five flights of stairs.

Our initial tour of the facility turned out to be a journey through time.  As we explored our surroundings we travelled back in time and learned about the first types of printing devices.
Tour stop by the Linotype machine
We learned about the Journal’s founding (thank you John Macpherson, Arthur Moore and J.W. Cunningham), we visited the photo and print archives and experienced the past directly. We then jumped ahead to the present day and saw the newsroom and other work spaces. Warping into the future, we learned about the direction of the new Journal format and platforms.  We ended our day exploring works by the award winning political cartoonist, one of our class’ favorites, Malcolm Mayes.

Bzzzzzzzzzz! The morning of our second day, we transformed ourselves into tiny flies. Landing on various walls around the building we spent time learning about many of the jobs done at the Journal. With our trusty reporter’s notepads we carefully recorded details pertaining to the job descriptions and experiences of the Gastropost editor Brittney LeBlanc, columnist Paula Simons, Community Manager of Capital Ideas Sam Brooks and reporter Chris Zdeb. That afternoon we flew over to the CKUA radio building and found out the workings of a radio station.
Outside CKUA
From music to reporting we saw it all through our many lensed eyes. To round off our day we explored the Shaw Convention center and observed the construction of the Crashed Ice course, amazingly, it actually wrapped itself around the building!

Wednesday saw us hit the streets. We toured many interesting areas around the city center and spent time at the award winning Stanley Milner Library. We perused newspapers from across the country and around the globe. We looked at the Art around the building and explored the amazing EPL Makerspace. Can you believe a library can also have a green screen, a recording booth, programming and gaming computers along with 3D printers? Wow!
Construction of Rogers Place
Using the amazing pedway system, we traversed the many downtown streets and made our way to the Hudson Bay’s parkade where we had an incredible view of the new arena being constructed.
After resting our feet over a well-deserved lunch, we concluded our busy day by interviewing the Journal’s Sports Editor, Craig Ellingson. We found out that putting together a section for a newspaper sure takes a lot of teamwork.

The morning of our penultimate day we rode the main line of our LRT for 35 minutes from Century Park all the way to Clareview.
Century Park kiss'n ride to LRT
On our way back to get to the Legislature, we stopped by to visit the great Wayne Gretzky (or at least his statue). Our tour of the Legislature with our informative and hilarious guide Will, provided us with much gained knowledge. From observing the original location of Fort Edmonton to discovering that our province is named after Princess Louise Caroline Alberta we learned a lot, all under the watchful gaze of the King and Queen. We even learned that maces and plumbing have their part in lawmaking.
Will and Princess Louise Caroline Alberta

Our final day saw us take on the role of “fly on the wall,” once again. Delving into the minds of Randy Collins the Linotype and advertising expert, Editor-in-Chief Margo Goodhand, Andrea Sands news reporter and Shaughn Butts photojournalist, we learned even more about what it takes to make a newspaper run. Finally, we looked at how people, places and events around Edmonton fit onto an historical timeline.

Descending our mountain of stairs, we began reflecting on the many experiences that comprised our amazing week. Wherever we go in the future we will keep our eyes and ears open because we know that we are always “Live On The Scene”.
Descending the stairs


Sunday 15 March 2015

Brightview Connects Lots of Learning to Food at EJ School

The Grade 6s from Brightview School spent February 9 to 13th at the Edmonton Journal to learn about journalism.
Print - just one of the four news "platforms"
This was a part of the Inquiring Minds Site School programs.  Mrs. Van Riper is the leader of EJ School and Mr. Mastel is their teacher.

Students enjoyed meeting Jana Pruden, who is the crime bureau chief. Students learned that she loves her job which she said, “is hard emotionally and physically.” She can get emotional: sad, worried and scared after some of the stories she reports on.  She also loves her job because she and her co-workers “help each other and are a big team.”
Brightview students meet Capital Ideas, Sam and Karen
Some lucky grade 6 students met Karen Unland and Sam Brooks from ‘Capital Ideas’ on Tuesday. 
They help business people or the people who want to start a business here in Edmonton. They ask successful business owners to give some ideas on that topic. They put the person’s picture on the Capital Ideas’ page and the ideas and advice in quotes.  “Our job is really fun because we get to meet people who are very successful with their business and we can help the Edmontonians who want to start a business”, they both told the students. Karen Unland commented, “I love to learn new things.” “Newspapers can tell a story that the internet can’t,” Sam Brooks pointed out.
Pizza at fantasia gelateria
On Wednesday the grade 6s went to Enterprise Square, which is the old Hudson’s Bay building. The students ate tasty pizza from fantasia gelateria, and when they finished they explored Andrea Itzeck’s art exhibit in the lobby called ‘Walk of Hands.”   Then they had some delicious gelato, care of Mrs. VanRiper.  After lunch students interviewed Fiona Cavanagh, Marco Melfi, and Yvonne Pronovost from the Centre for Public Involvement and the Edmonton Food Council.  
Students met and interviewed Brittney Le Blanc on Thursday February 12th. Her job is community manager for newspaper pages called GastroPost in Wednesday’s edition of the Edmonton Journal.  She’s passionate about her job and is not in it for the money: “I do media because I love it, not because I make lots of money.”
Earlier in the week, a handful of Brightview students met Chris Zdeb, who was looking at past newspapers on microfiche. She used three machines to look at the old newspapers to find a story from the past to feature in an upcoming issue of the Edmonton Journal. “I think this is the best job at the Edmonton Journal” she said and has worked there for 35 years as a reporter and feature writer. She is a curious lady that likes to talk to people around the city. Students were also exposed to microfiche at the Stanley Milner Library, thanks to Community Librarian, Angie Miller.  
Students stayed active during their week at the Edmonton Journal. 
Near the Shaw Conference Centre
They had lots of fun walking to the Shaw Conference Center, where they saw the building of Red Bull CrashedIce track. Some students are planning to attend this upcoming event.
Students also toured the CKUA building.  They went into the studio and recorded a skit using a microphone and the computers. Then, they went into the library filled with records and CDs. The students were able to learn a lot about how the radio station works.  
CKUA recording
By Friday it was the final day at the Edmonton Journal and Mr. Mastel decided to take the students to the Don Wheaton Y.M.C.A to swim. It was a great experience. They enjoyed swimming around in the pool with their teacher. “Mr Mastel I’m really tired,” Jessica said, “I’m exhausted!”
Throughout the week students had fun exploring, learning and meeting people through EJ School. As Jaslyn boarded the bus for the final time she was quoted as saying, “I liked how we learned about food throughout the week. You should go to Enterprise Square and have the pizza and gelato!” 
"...we learned about food throughout the week."