On the front page of this edition, you will see one result of the Next Generation Newsroom program launched in September by the Lake Placid News and Adirondack Daily Enterprise. It’s a story from Andy Flynn about his visit to the AuSable Forks Elementary School, where he offered guidance to the school’s new writing club as they prepared to launch a newsletter. This visit was part of the newspaper’s Next Generation Newsroom initiative.

The mission of our Next Generation Newsroom is to create educational pathways for students in the Tri-Lakes Region to become professional journalists. The ADE and LPN have offered opportunities to learn about journalism for many years, including newsroom field trips and internships. The Next Generation Newsroom is just a way to formalize these activities so teachers know what we can do for their students to explore journalism as a career.

This is a program of outreach, recruitment and training for local students — in public and private schools and homeschooled — to gain valuable experience that will launch their journalism careers — either in entry-level positions at the ADE and LPN or in bigger newsrooms.

–

Make a difference

–

The American Press Institute says it best when it defines the important role journalism plays in our society:

“News is that part of communication that keeps us informed of the changing events, issues, and characters in the world outside. Though it may be interesting or even entertaining, the foremost value of news is as a utility to empower the informed.

“The purpose of journalism is thus to provide citizens with the information they need to make the best possible decisions about their lives, their communities, their societies, and their governments.”

–

Cover the world in your backyard

–

The ADE and LPN, founded in 1895 and 1905, respectively, continue to be a proven training ground — a stepping stone — for young journalists’ careers. It’s part of the legacy of these hyper-local newspapers. Many who have worked in our newsroom have eventually moved on to bigger media outlets, such as The New York Times.

Interns help the ADE and LPN staff cover a wide variety of community news and sports in a region that is unique in America, such as environmental issues and outdoor recreation in the 6-million-acre Adirondack Park and Lake Placid’s Olympic legacy, as host of the 1932 and 1980 Olympic Winter Games and its continuing role in training Olympic hopefuls and hosting international sporting events.

Flynn, ADE Managing Editor Elizabeth Izzo and ADE/LPN Sports Editor Parker O’Brien are the newsroom mentors, and interns work side-by-side with professional journalists. They’re not fetching coffee; they’re in the field — interviewing, reporting, photographing and writing — and building a portfolio of work they can use to get employment in the future. With the weekly and daily newspapers in one newsroom, this is a unique place for students to learn the craft of journalism.

–

College students

–

– We invite students — attending North Country Community College in Saranac Lake and Paul Smith’s College — to submit stories and photos for publication in the ADE and LPN.

– We offer paid summer internships — one at ADE and one at LPN — for college journalism students who live in the Tri-Lakes Region and journalism students enrolled at colleges in New York state, through the New York Press Association.

– We offer college scholarships for journalism students who live in the Adirondack Park (including print, broadcast, photo and multimedia).

– Our editors are available to conduct mock job interviews for journalism school students (via Zoom).

– Our editors are available to speak to students about community journalism, our newspapers, our unique coverage area in the Adirondack Park, and internship and employment opportunities (in person or via Zoom).

–

Middle/high school students

–

– We invite local students to submit stories and photos for publication in the ADE and LPN.

– We offer unpaid internships during the school year and summer (for school credit).

– One of our editors is available to present a News Writing Workshop for local students (Zoom).

– We support active news clubs, newspapers and photography clubs in local schools.

– In schools that don’t have active news clubs, newspapers or photography clubs, we advocate for the formation of those clubs and newspapers.

– We sponsor writing and photography contests for local students.

– We sponsor meet-the-journalist events in local schools.

– Our editors are available to take part in Career Day at school or Career Shadow Days with local students.

– Our editors are available to speak at local schools about community journalism, our newspapers, our unique coverage area in the Adirondack Park, and future internship and employment opportunities.

– We offer tours of our newspaper facility in Saranac Lake to local students (all grades).

– High school students may have the opportunity to become paid correspondents after completing an internship.

–

Elementary school students

–

– We invite local students to submit stories and photos for publication in the ADE and LPN.

– We sponsor writing and photography contests for local students.

– We support active news clubs, newspapers and photography clubs in local schools.

– In schools that don’t have active news clubs, newspapers or photography clubs, we advocate for the formation of those clubs and newspapers.

– Our editors are available to speak at local schools about community journalism, our newspapers, our unique coverage area in the Adirondack Park, and future internship and employment opportunities.

– Our editors are available to attend Career Day at local schools to explain the job of a journalist.

– We offer tours of our newspaper facility in Saranac Lake to local students (all grades).

–

Learn more

–

For more information about our Next Generation Newsroom program, contact Andy Flynn, editor/publisher of the ADE and LPN at 518-891-5559 or aflynn@lakeplacidnews.com. Or visit our Next Generation Newsroom webpage at lakeplacidnews.com/next-generation-newsroom.