A budding young journalist, Nicole Biddinger's first newspaper article promises to be a good one.
An eighth grader at Madison Middle School, Biddinger interviewed Bartlesville mayor Tom Gorman earlier this month before a regularly scheduled city council meeting. Biddinger will use the contents of the interview for a feature story which is due to appear in the first-ever issue of the Bruin Express, Madison's new school newspaper.
It was pretty neat, says Biddinger of the interview. The mayor was really nice.
I really enjoyed interviewing him and getting his thoughts about what's going on with Bartlesville.
More than 40 Madison students signed up to help out with the 2008-09 Madison yearbook as well as the Bruin Express. English teacher Bridgette Laramie is overseeing both projects and is rotating youngsters through different roles over the course of each of the four nine-week periods during the academic year.
The Bruin Express staff for the initial nine-week period includes editor Katy Layman, columnists Katherine Boulanger, Beth Fentress, Meagan Marrow and Jade Tomlinson, sports writer Korey Herrman, sports photographer Hallee Gillard, writer Kelsea Hull, photographers Sydney Williams and Cara Guilfoyle, merchandisers Tim Snow and Bryan Gordon, and Biddinger, who serves as a reporter.
The staff is expected to put out one or two issues of the Bruin Express during the first nine weeks.
Biddinger didn't sign up for yearbook and newspaper duties with the hopes of interviewing the mayor. But when Laramie suggested the assignment, she embraced it. During the interview, Gorman discussed his families deep roots in Bartlesville as well as his plans for the city.
I enjoyed the interview, says Biddinger. I like talking to other people.
Though she has always liked to write, Biddinger didn't really begin to ponder journalism possibilities until last year. That was when English teacher Shannon McKinney encouraged her to enter an essay contest. Biddinger submitted an essay and took first place in her district.
Biddinger has since talked to Darla Tresner, the journalism and mass communications teacher at both Bartlesville High School and the Bartlesville Mid-High School , about working on future papers at the schools. Tresner has encouraged her to get involved.
I think journalism is really something I would like to pursue as a career, says Biddinger.
The youngster looks forward to the debut issue of the Bruin Express as well as her first byline which will accompany her story.
I think that will feel really neat to see, says Biddinger. It will be neat to see the story in print that I have worked hard on.
The Bruin Express promises to be a project in which the entire Madison student body can take pride.
An eighth grader, Nicole Biddinger, pictured with Bartlesville mayor Tom Gorman, is a reporter with Madison Middle School's new student newspaper, the Bruin Express.