Showing aspiring reporters at Hempstead High the world of journalism

This fall six Hofstra University graduate journalism students visited Hempstead High School weekly to teach members of the newspaper club about how to write news and feature articles and to introduce them to the journalism profession.

Scott Brinton, a Hofstra adjunct journalism professor and Herald Community Newspapers senior editor, started the program, which is funded in part by a New York Press Association grant. Among the Hofstra mentors were Sakeenah Benjamin, Kimberly Charles, Nakeem Grant, Joié Johnson-Walker, Rohanie Parbhoo and Yuna Shan. 

James Clark, Hempstead’s assistant superintendent for secondary instruction, and Rachel Blount, a Hempstead High assistant principal, “lent their full support to the program,” Brinton said. “Without them, none of this would have been possible.”

“Professor Brinton wanted us to establish a connection between Hofstra and a local school,” said Grant, of West Hempstead. “Through this program, we’ve been able to mentor the students … and give them advice about what life after high school is like.”

In their weekly meetings with students, Grant said, mentors focused on accentuating the positive at Hempstead High while celebrating the school’s diversity. “We told them that there is life after high school,” he said. “If they work hard, stay motivated and keep going, they can get to wherever they want to go.”

Brinton, of Merrick, modeled the program after one created by Nicolas McBride, an associate journalism professor at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, in 2008.

“The program is fantastic,” said Linda Mizel, a Hempstead High art teacher and the newspaper club adviser. “It started out with a panel of journalism [professors] who came to the classroom to talk about journalism to the students. They got the students interested. After that, we were able to learn more about what the newspaper process is like through Scott. The effect was incredible. It definitely got the students’ attention.”