Seventh grade students at the Upland Country Day School had a unique opportunity to learn about journalism and publishing when they produced two newspapers covering events in the world of the dystopian novel that they have been working on this school year.

Emily Swarter, an English teacher in Upland’s Upper School, explained that the students researched a variety of newspapers and roles in newspapers, and then chose their jobs for this assignment based on their interests. 

“We had a publisher, an editor-in-chief, news, weather, and investigative reporters, an opinion columnist, a cartoonist, a photojournalist, and ads/marketing director,” Swarter explained. “Their task was to create a newspaper based on the dystopian world of the novel (The Testing).”

Swarter, who is also a graduate of Upland, enlisted the help of Avery Lieberman Eaton, who publishes the Chester County Press with her brother, Stone Lieberman. Avery is a 2006 graduate of Upland Country Day School, and Stone graduated from the school three years later. She visited Swarter’s 7th grade English class as a guest expert on journalism and publishing.

“Avery visited my class of seventh-grade English students in early January for a session on journalism, and specifically how to create and publish a newspaper,” Swarter explained. “Avery and I are both alumnae of Upland Country Day School, and I was thrilled by the idea of bringing in a guest speaker with real world experience—and, even better, an Upland alum with real world experience in the field of journalism.”

Swarter said that Avery’s visit helped the students to think about how to put together a newspaper and what the different functions of their roles looked like.

“She talked about bylines, headlines, above the fold, below the fold, achieving flow through a publication, a newspaper’s mission, and then the students had the opportunity to ask her for advice or feedback on their ideas as related to their newspaper,” Swarter said. “Students published two newspapers over the course of the unit, and it was amazing to see the growth. Avery said their newspaper looked like a real newspaper, and it did.”

Swarter also said that the newspaper project meshed well with Upland's Harkness method, which is a teaching method centered on communication, listening, and respect around a table. 

“Avery emphasized to the students the critical importance of communication for a newspaper’s staff, and I have to say that’s a critical piece to a successful Harkness discussion,” Swarter explained. “My goal with the project was to offer students a creative framework to study a text rather than traditional discussions or assessments, and to give them a glimpse into something they might like to pursue as a future career.”

Avery said that she enjoyed the experience of working with the Upland students and sharing insights about the newspaper industry with them.

“It was an honor to work with the next generation of young journalists,” Avery said. “It was great to see them asking inspiring questions and learning about what it takes to get a newspaper off the ground.”