Baxter Newspaper: Flex Friday

 

Project Proposal
 

Abstract

 

 

This project will be a sustainable way for the community to stay informed about everything affecting Baxter. The Baxter Newspaper will create an online newspaper, making it easier, for more people to access. The project also plans on making physical copies, once it gets started. The project will send out a survey or will interview students to see if physical copies would help the newspaper become more effective, and easier to access. The newspaper might include things such as interviews with students, reviews of popular culture, local news affecting the community around Baxter, trending stories, info about classes, video interviews, puzzles, and other information about things such as Flex Fridays, school changes, open campus, field trips, upcoming events, and activities etc.

A newspaper is a more interactive and informative way to communicate news to the community. This Flex Friday project plans to research and report about possible events in and around Baxter. This project is trying to provide a way for the Baxter community to see what is going on in Baxter. Each member of this team has joined because they are passionate about writing, journalism, and photography.

Problem Statement

 

 

Baxter has many events and projects that affect everyone at Baxter. While a lot is happening, it can be hard for everyone in the community to stay informed. Flex Friday groups and other projects sometimes have a hard time advertising what they are doing and get the appreciation they deserve.

 

Goals & Objectives

 

• Investigate and Report

  • Collect pictures and data/news

  • Conduct interviews

  • Write articles for the newspaper

• Set up a website for the Baxter newspaper

  • Create a website using Weebly

  • Find out who to talk to about getting a link on the Baxter website

  • Get a link on the Baxter website for the newspaper

• Publish a newspaper every 3 Fridays

  • Investigate

  • Write

  • Revise

  • Edit

  • Layout

  • Publish

 

Team

 

     

Shavonne Smith: Shavonne is a new 11th grader at Baxter Academy. She enjoys writing and photography. This will help in the success of this project because this project involves written articles and pictures being taken around Baxter.

 

Ava Tran: Ava is a 9th grader at Baxter Academy, and this is her first Flex Friday project, not including the introduction to Flex Friday project which was, A Whole New World, where they wrote different stories about different worlds, which helped improve their writing skills. She enjoys writing and this will help her with this project. This project will be working with writing, and editing, both things she has worked on a lot in the past.

 

Abigail Smith: Abi is a new 10th grader at Baxter Academy. Her love for writing and photography will benefit this project greatly. These are significant skills for this project because writing skills are important for the newspaper. Her skills in photography will benefit the visual part of the newspaper.

 

Chyann Cassavant: Chyann is a 9th grader at Baxter Academy. Her intro to Flex Friday project was A Whole New World. That project taught her that teamwork and clear communication is the key to success. She appreciates reading and writing, which can benefit this project because these skills are an important aspect of the newspaper. She also brings writing and good communication to the group which will help with writing emails, articles, and interviews.

 

Katelyn Virmalo: Project advisor

Timeline

 

 

In December:

• Write proposal

• Information will need to be collected of everything happening at Baxter, take photos, write columns, and find out if anyone in the community wants something put in the newspaper. This will be divided into tasks that each team member will take on while communicating back and forth with each other.

• Start writing.

 

In January:

• Information will be gathered by working separately or in pairs and communicating back and forth with each other about what each is working on.

• The writing and editing process will take place. The group will split into two teams if information still needs to be collected. That way writing and editing can still take place if the information collecting stage gets delayed.

• The first newspaper publication will be on January 18th.

• Ideas will start to be formed for the next publication.

 

In February:

• Look at a Baxter activities calendar to see what events are going on.

• Find out how effective the newspaper has been, and decide whether or not we should continue to only do the newspaper digitally, or start making physical copies too, so more people have access. If not, our goal by February 3rd is to publish another online newspaper.

• Find out what people would like to see in the newspaper or have people enter articles to be added to the newspaper.

 

In March:

• Look at a Baxter activities calendar to see what events are going on.

• Articles will be finished and edited for the next publication. The final product will be published by March 10th.

• Information will be collected from around the school, Portland, and the

 

In April:  

• Look at a Baxter activities calendar to see what events are going on.

• A newspaper will be published on April 7th, online if nothing goes wrong.

• Collect more information to add to the paper. The team will be publishing the newspaper.

 

In May:

• Look at a Baxter activities calendar to see what events are going on.

• Data will be collected for the last newspaper of the year, then written.

• The newspaper will be edited.

• By May 19th, it will be published.

 

Resources

 

 

Materials

 

• Computers for researching stories around Portland, typing up articles for the newspaper, creating and updating the online newspaper.

 

• Printer and paper, provided by the school, if it’s decided that the newspaper should be printed.

 

• Cameras, also provided by the school, to take pictures around Baxter and Portland for the newspaper.

 

• The program being used is Weebly if it is decided the newspaper should be printed, InDesign will be used, supplied by Katelyn Virmalo.

 

• Audio equipment, supplied by the school, to successfully do interviews.

 

     Constraints

 

 

Some constraints for this project will be finding stories. If for some reason enough stories aren’t found or there is a snow day in the three week period, the newspaper will either print a few stories short or it will be delayed for another week to give enough time to gather more stories and information.

 

Budget

 

     

       The school newspaper won’t need a budget. The school will provide all the

equipment we need such as cameras and audio recorders.

 

Deliverables

 

 

The end result of this project will be an online newspaper that anyone will be able to read. The content will be aimed at students and teachers to stay informed about what happens in and around Baxter. It will also help families who are thinking about coming to Baxter, see what goes on in the Baxter environment.

 

The Baxter Newspaper will do this by reporting on student and school activities. The newspaper also plans to report on news that could affect Baxter, or stories that students might be interested in hearing such as the latest movies, art, literature, music, write reviews, make recommendations.

 

There will be a link, to the newspaper, on the Baxter Academy website. The project will be using Weebly to create and publish the website and will be formatted into InDesign before printing the actual physical copy if the project were to start making physical copies. The newspaper will help advertise course and Flex Friday projects in order to best appreciate the things that happen at Baxter.