Press club in my secondary school (Nostalgia)

On By siddiqoyeIn Secondary Education

From the views generated by my previous article, I discovered many people (I guess teachers) are curious about secondary school press club. Thus, they search this online daily. Consequently, I decided to share a more beneficial post on this.

11 years ago, I joined my secondary school press club. That was a decision that would influence me a lot. We were just like any other high school students, but as a teacher now, I agree we did awesome things.

Basically, our activities were student-centred, and some of those beautiful activities includes:

  1. Weekly news report:

These were some paragraphs from notable newspapers read in front of the assembly by two students on a chosen day of a week, then it used to be Wednesdays. My school was a boarding school, and mobile phones were contraband. But thanks to the press, the students were as updated as any other citizen. We would make orders for newspaper every week, extract basic and relevant items to draft our “national news”. Then, the “local news” were reports of news worthy activities and policies in school. We would start with “Headlines for this week are….”.

  1. Press board (wall-gazette)

This was a glass covered board on which we attached news materials and interesting short articles. It used to have several segments; nation news, local news, entertainment articles (mostly jokes and cartoons) and the dreaded “new tabs”- the segment for the week grammatical errors committed by students that week. Students would go any length to make their name not to appear in this embarrassing section, but our motto set the rule: “Service without fear nor favour”.

  1. Interviews:

Most certainly, this was one of the greatest experiences then. We were given opportunities to meet school visitors for interviews. As casual as these interviews may have seemed, we had the chance to interact with some people of reputes. Our interviewees were in the rank of education supervisors or commissioners[1]. We also used to have a yearly chit-chat with the head of the school who briefs us on the running of the school. Well, I have no idea what they thought of us but to ourselves, we were something: “Young journalists”.

  1. Chats with parents:

This was a sort of street-interview, only that here, it wasn’t a street, it was in a park where parents hang around at on visiting days. We would meet parents and guardians -who have come to visit their wards- and ask them what they think about the school and all that. We used to ask them for advises as well, as amongst them were journalists or media practitioners.  Major reports from these interviews were usually drafted as local news, unlike those mentioned in number 3, which were published in our school annual magazine –“The pace”

  1. Press crew:

Then, being a participant was not the only guarantee that you’ll attend a competition. One or two press members will always go with the school team to record the event. The crew members selected by the club were charged with recording the event and drafting out a report for local news. After such outings, the press board would be adorned with photos from them. These attracted crowds to our board, and we had a name for that- “Hot news”

  1. Press day:

Like most school associations in Nigeria, we had a special day with no precise date, to celebrate our achievements for the year. The programme would include an educative talk, delivered by an outsider and usually themed towards the importance of our functions.  The day was special, neither because of its cakes and drinks nor the many guests and photos, but because it doubled as the club’s handling-over day. Thus, everyone except the few committee members were eager to know who will occupy that “great” office.“The Pres. of Press”.

  1. Excursion:

We used to make trips to media houses, say newspaper or a Tv or radio house, to see what the mainstream journalism looks like. This programme is organised once a year under the supervision of our coordinator- a teacher. Personally, I didn’t an opportunity to go on such trips. “painfull”

  1. Weekly meetings

Yeah! All these wouldn’t be possible without constant meeting. We used to meet in a classroom once a week to evaluate our progress and make plans. We would fine members who failed to attend a meeting (without a valid excuse) and expel those who miss three meetings consecutively. Hmm, we had a constitution. “Pillar of press”.

This are nice activities, you may try them in your school too!

[1] I attended a military school- Command Secondary School Ibadan and was privileged to interview the then General Officer Commanding (GOC) 2nd Div. Nigerian Army.

31 thoughts on “Press club in my secondary school (Nostalgia)”

  1. Pingback: As a Press club member, what can I do for my school? – AS SIDDIQ

      2. Anonymous's avatar Anonymous

        Thank you so much. This has really given a lot of insight of how the press club would be.
        This is very great and so helpful.
        Thanks once again.

        Like

      1. Bechylde's avatar Bechylde

        Wow, I attended Command Secondary School, Ibadan. Reading, through the article, I found that your experiences felt very familiar. Once, you mentioned ‘The Pace’, I knew why. CSSI has always boasted of vibrant clubs and I feel very proud. Keep it up!

        Liked by 1 person

      2. Felt so pleased after glancing through this write up I felt dreams come true.
        I wish to partiner with you in taking this School Press Club to another height.
        I have my plans available and ready to executive but need more enlightened and forcused minds.
        Thanks

        Like

      3. Danzydeex Press's avatar Danzydeex Press

        I’m really impress following your program and wish to partner with you in achieving my goals.

        Thanks

        Like

    2. Ducheman44's avatar Ducheman44

      My name Danurch. I was impressed by your write. It gave me a tip on what to do as the new staff coordinator of my school. I was not opportuned to belong to my school press club during my secondary school days.
      My present school is a new school. I have been made the coordinator of the new born Press club. But the truth is that I don’t what to do and how to go about it. I wasn’t a member of the Press Club in school. But now that I have been given the coordination of the new club, what do I do.
      1. How do I begin to groom the students?
      2. What and what am I suppose to teach them about the press club?
      3. What lessons am I supposed to teach them about the Press Club?
      4. What is the first step to take in training and grooming student members of the club?
      5. In fact, how do I start this project of press clubs coordinator?
      Please, I will highly appreciate your kind and urgent response.

      Like

      Reply

      1. Congratulations on your appointment as the coordinator. I wish you the best in it.

        I’ll briefly address your questions, but note that whatever I say aren’t sacrscanct, they can be applied as the situation warrants.

        1. You can ask your students to read national news and write out the headlines that interest them. Let them present these headlines on the assembly. İf you’ve got a board (wall gazette), they can write the news out by themselves.

        With this, I’m sure they will also be able to create their own news with developments around the school.

        2. Let them know what press club is all about, then deliberate with them oncarryingy out the activities with resources you’ve got in your school.

        Note: don’t always be the one telling them what to do and what not, guide them on critical thinking too.

        3. You may consider letting them know the virtues of passing correct information to others.
        You may also consider telling them how student journalism would help them in their career.

        4. The first step to take: refer to 1 & 2.

        5. Be calm… making an interesting draft of importance of membership press club…. request students to volunteer to join the club… organize meetings with them… guide them to execute the activities.

        Liked by 1 person

      2. Ducheman44's avatar Ducheman44

        Thanks alot Siddiqoye. I really appreciate your timely response to my concerns. Your tips are very helpful. I am happy I met you on this platform. God bless

        Liked by 1 person

  4. Jay's avatar Jay

    This post is quite helpful. Just like Ducheman44, I have no idea what to do as a press club coordinator. With your post I’m no longer confused and also I am adopting your answer to his questions. Thanks again.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
      1. Bola's avatar Bola

        Okay so
        I was appointed as the coordinator of a pressure club in my school.
        Well, it’s our first and i seriously don’t want anything to go wrong.
        Now i know what to do in the aspect of presentation,but what are the activities to do,
        The kind of news to feed them.
        And so on……
        To make it look interesting and to make the pupils have interest in my club.

        Like

  5. Temitope's avatar Temitope

    Good evening. Am soo happy reading your write up on press club. This has given me the clue on how to start ours as a press club teacher in my school. My first question is this.. we just met once i.e had one meeting with the students about pree clu and the school authority asked me to write something about our first meeting. What do i put there…

    Like

    Reply

    1. I’m pleased you’ve been able to establish a press club at your school. If the school requests that you write something about your first meeting, I believe you should provide them with the meeting minutes (like a summary of your discussion and conclusions).
      However, if the school requires a proposal from you, I believe you may consider talking to your students about the planned activities. Create a program plan. Pose questions such as “what are our plans for the coming year?” this expression? each month, each week, and so forth.

      Like

      Reply
  7. Bola's avatar Bola

    Okay so
    I was appointed as the coordinator of a pressure club in my school.
    Well, it’s our first and i seriously don’t want anything to go wrong.
    Now i know what to do in the aspect of presentation,but what are the activities to do,
    The kind of news to feed them.
    And so on……
    To make it look interesting and to make the pupils have interest in my club.

    Like

    Reply

    1. Hello Alex,
      There are numerous exciting activities that can be planned for a press club anniversary or any other large celebration. The most significant factor, though, is your budget.
      You can organise a programme in your school hall to discuss themes such as media, social media, and fake news. You may consider inviting a journalist or university lecturer for such a programme.  You can also organise an exhibition on a relevant topic, such as the history of journalism, media, the internet, newspapers, and so on.
      Whatever you plan to do, make the press members stand out on that particular day. They can wear customised shirts or tags that make them feel like “celebrants.”

      I hope these suggestions are helpful.

      Like

      Reply

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