By Bonnie James
In a novel initiative, the students of Cambridge International School for Girls have launched a monthly campus newspaper, News Bridge.
The editorial society was formed when a group of students from Year 4 to Year 11, volunteered to encourage their peers to share their points of view and to make their voices heard.
“We chose the name News Bridge because it contains the word ‘news’ and ‘bridge’ was derived from Cambridge,” editorial society members and Year 8 students Hanan Said and Iyya Manalese said.
The budding journalists came up with a catchy slogan – ‘Get the truth from the youth,’ which was decided through discussion with all the 18 members in the society.
The girls also created a logo for News Bridge and a badge for the editorial society members to let other students, as well as teachers, informed on who is in the team and who they should go to for more details.
“We will meet four times a week to discuss our progress and to collect more articles, which are an assorted collection of factual info, entertainment, latest school news and events,” Hanan explained.
There is also a special section for displaying students’ work and achievement, interviews with teachers along with encouraging tips and facts that will hopefully help students socially and educationally.
“We will also try to include topics from around the world that affect us in our lives, for example the huge slump in the economy in the US and the UK, which are intended to improve the senior student’s knowledge and help them understand the world beyond Qatar,” Iyya stated.
The primary students can enjoy the competitions advertised in the newspaper, and the entertainment page.
There will be an opportunity for the student readers to advertise the book of the month, events coming up, interviews, and star students of the month.
“Our administrator, Hermien Klopper, continuously encourages us to do our best and enjoy what we’re doing. That is why our editors-in-chief Sonam Choden and Eman Altorky work very hard to create a newspaper that will suit everyone, even the kindergarten students,” the editorial society members said.
The idea of a newspaper run by students only, was a challenging one at first, but within no time students rose to the occasion and came up with news, articles and lots of thoughts to make News Bridge a success.
The newspaper was launched by Taleb Group managing director Mohamed Taleb al-Khouri.
Principal Margaret Brooks, Supreme Education Council’s counselling officer and senior adviser Elham Mohamed al-Ahmadani, teachers and students were also present.
The other members of the editorial society are: Mariam Mahmoud (Year 4), Fatima Firas, Tala Maher Abbas, Almaha Alkaabi, Saadiya Iftikar (Year 5), Mariam Ibrahim, Wasmiya Awal, Yasmeen Muhannad, Yasmeen Nasser (Year 6), Asma Hussain, Sonam Choden, Amalia Rahma, Asma al Khouri (Year 9), Nusra Iftikar, Asma Alamgir, and Eman Altorky (Year 10). |
