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Meetings of the New Jersey Newspaper in Education and Youth Readership Committee are held at the New Jersey Press Association's offices: 840 Bear Tavern Road, Suite 305, West Trenton, N.J. 08628. Our phone number is (609) 406-0600 (dial 19 for the foundation director or zero for the receptionist).

The NJPA offices are located in the Mountain View Office Park, which is adjacent to Exit 2 of Interstate 95 in central New Jersey ... less than two miles north of the Delaware River bridge (the Scudders Falls Bridge) linking New Jersey and Pennsylvania. (this is NOT exit 2 of the New Jersey Turnpike, which is just north of the Delaware Memorial Bridge leading to/from I-95 in the state of Delaware)

When leaving I-95 at Exit 2, turn left at the top of the exit ramp. Then turn right at the first traffic signal to enter the Mountain View Office Park.

Our offices are on the third floor (suite 305) of Building 840, which is clearly marked on the top of the building.

For detailed directions to NJPA's headquarters, click here or use MapQuest for the address above.

Summary of the December 6, 2007, Meeting

The meeting began at 10:45 a.m. at the New Jersey Press Association headquarters in West Trenton, N.J.

In attendance were Shirley Sasor (Hunterdon County Democrat), Cynthia  Forster (The Record and Herald News), Joe Dziublenski (The Record), Staci Winder (The Press of Atlantic City), Elisabeth Davidson (Express-News), Kristen Coppock (Burlington County Times), Chris Yatchyshyn (Bucks County Courier Times), Steve Chiger (Garden State Scholastic Press Association), Diana Mitsu Klos (American Society of Newspaper Editors), Rebecca Markley (Jersey Journal), George White (NJNF), Cathrine Langley (NJPA) and Tom Engleman (NJNF). In the photo, from left, are: Shirley Sasor, Diana Mitsu Klos, Tom Engleman, Staci Winder and Steve Chiger.

Shirley Sasor, committee chair, welcomed everybody and asked those in attendance to introduce themselves.

George White, director of NJNF, outlined the mission of the foundation and its current annual fund campaign.

Tom Engleman, program director of NJNF, explained the role of the NJNF Newspaper in Education and Youth Readership Committee. He then summarized the new NAA Foundation study on developing lifelong newspaper readers and how research shows the two best ways of finding lifelong readers for newspapers is by sending newspapers into schools for teachers to use as a "living textbook" and by having teens write articles for youth-teen pages of newspapers. He explained that packaging information of interest to young readers is no different than the established practice of newspapers packaging information for other demographic groups.

Engleman then introduced Diana Mitsu Klos, senior project director of the American Society of Newspaper Editors, and Steve Chiger , president of the Garden State Scholastic Press Association and co-director of the Journalism Diversity Workshop.

Diana Mitsu Klos said efforts to reach high school and middle-school students is the last best chance of reaching potential readers. She said newspapers must engage young readers and empower them with content they are interested in. She described the ASNE High School Journalism Initiative which includes a series of two-week teacher workshops, ASNE journalism partnerships that offer $2,500 grants to newspapers that propose innovative ways of starting or improving high school newspapers, and the highschooljournalism.org Web site that offers skills-building exercises, lesson plans, updates on scholastic press freedom, scholarships and links to journalism schools. She said the Web site gets about 100,000 unique visitors every month. She then demonstrated the MyHighSchoolJournalism.org Web site that hosts approximately 700 online high school  newspapers, about 20 percent of which don't have printed school newspapers. There is a one-time cost of $50 for any high school newspaper to become part of that site. Several New Jersey high school newspapers are available online for professional newspapers to access if they want to offer links on their Web pages to content written by teens.

Steve Chiger outlined the proposed Institutional Affiliates Program, the Resources Directory and the Online Student Page to be available on the GSSPA Web site, www.gsspa.org . The Institutional Affiliates Program offers newspapers a way to reach high school journalism students through tours, speakers and conferences. The Online Student page is a home page for New Jersey high school student journalists who are seeking help with articles they are writing and with legal and ethical situations. That Web page is open to professional newspaper reporters and editors who want to write blogs, answer student questions and write journalism instructional content.  Chiger then described the Journalism Diversity Workshop and offered newspapers the names of past participants and applicants to the workshop. During discussion, it was suggested that a hometown daily and weekly newspaper be sent the  names of workshop participants before the workshop begins, so the students can visit the newspapers before the workshop and then possibly become youth/teen writers immediately after the workshop. Chiger gave those in attendance an application form to become an Institutional Affiliate with the more than 100 GSSPA members (journalism teachers throughout the state). He said the application deadline for the 2008 Journalism  Diversity Workshop is April 10 and that an application form is available online at: www.journalismdiversity.org .

During their presentations, discussion, questions, etc., were open for all to participate.

Lunch, courtesy of the New Jersey Newspaper Foundation.

Committee business - Engleman asked the committee to send him a proposal in early January for any projects the committee wants the foundation to support in 2008.

The next committee meeting is scheduled for Thursday, February, 7. The proposed topic will be presentations on E-newspapers and how they can reach young readers in classrooms and outside of schools.

The meeting was adjourned at 1:30 p.m.

Minutes of the October 4, 2007, Meeting

Meeting began at 10:30 a.m. at the New Jersey Press Association headquarters in West Trenton, N.J.

In attendance: Shirley Sasor, Antonette Bomentre-Walter, Staci Winder, Jackie Mickelburgh, Elisabeth Davidson, Jill Murphy, Cynthia Forster, Renee Lavin, Chris Yatchyshyn, Tom Engleman

Approval of Minutes from the August 2, 2007, meeting were tabled since no minutes were reported.

Welcome new committee member, Staci Winder from The Press of Atlantic City

Member Presentation to Committee was given by Chris Yatchyshyn, Bucks County Courier Times (PA), Manager, Educational Services. Chris was invited to the meeting as a liaison with the PNA Foundation' s NIE coodinators. Topic: NIE Advisory Boards. Chris explained to us how the members of the board are your NIE instructors. Ideally, the ultimate goal is to have one representative from each school district in your circulation area. Your members should be enthusiastic about NIE and eager to share their knowledge. Look to incorporate at least one “Newspaper Personality” from your administrative end to present a special topic.

Reasons to implement an NIE Advisory Board are:

• Keeps the NIE department up with National demands and usefulness of the program to meet those demands.
• Allow them to try “pilot” your ideas first and record their feedback before introducing the projects to your whole NIE participants.
• Brainstorming is imperative to enable instructors to be aware of how “special” they are and that you need their support.
• Builds loyalty in the trenches and is a direct pipeline to teacher’s reactions.
• Make them aware that you work to fund the NIE program, with that awareness they will support your efforts and be your NIE Ambassadors.

Lastly, remember to feed them and give them free stuff! The meeting time can be treated as Professional Credit Development time when they are being instructed and taught new things. Your NIE program can only benefit from an NIE Advisory Board because a good NIE program is allot more than just “Balls & Balloons!”

Reports from newspapers on the Thomas Paine Project

Lunch:

Courtesy of the New Jersey Newspaper Foundation and always a great time to share ideas and catch up!

Revisited the mission and direction of the NIE/Youth Readership Committee. How can we serve newspapers better as the industry moves toward more online distribution? What kinds of projects should we be doing? Shirley requested feedback from the committee and collected a sign-up sheet with ideas for the future.

• Recognized the expertise and interests of the various committee members and encouraged them to share their strengths with the committee.
• Asked that individuals be willing to report at future meetings any "updates" or useful information the group might benefit from.

Discussion of examples of topics for future meetings included:

We must learn to “Teach with Technology” if we want to be successful. We need to be willing, ready and able – comfortable, if I may – with E-editions. It was recommended that NAA’s report “White Paper” is a must read! BCCT informed us that they are planning “an interactive Web site” for the 2008 elections and are purchasing hosting online space for their NIE program.

10:30 a.m., December 6, at the NJPA headquarters in West Trenton.

Agenda for the August 2, 2007, Meeting

The meeting will begin at 10:30 a.m. at The Star-Ledger, One Star-Ledger Plaza, Newark, N.J. Click here for directions. For questions about the meeting site, contact Jackie Mickelburgh at The Star-Ledger. Her phone number and E-mail address are in the NIE directory on this Web site.

Approval of Minutes from June 7 meeting

Old Business:

- Thomas Paine: view draft of Chapter 1, promo piece, and teacher's guide.
- Discussion of Youth Pages Award through change in Circulation category.
- Review of Regional NIE conference from N.J. attendees.

Lunch: Courtesy of The Star-Ledger

New Business:

- Report on the 2007 Journalism Diversity Workshop and suggested ways to link the students to the youth pages of N.J. newspapers for the coming school year. Rob Williams and Steve Chiger.
- Report on the Teachers at Newspapers Program and how it will help the youth pages of the Hunterdon County Democrat and other N.J. newspapers. Shirley Sasor and Tom McHale.
- Election of officers: Chair and Vice-Chair.
- Table for NJEA conference in Atlantic City in November: who is coming and what should you bring.
- Miss NJ poster - going forward despite the controversy?
- News to share.

Agenda for the June 7, 2007, Meeting

The meeting will begin at 10:30 a.m. at Jester's Cafe in Bordentown, N.J. Click here for directions.

Approval of Minutes of the April 5 meeting - Shirley Sasor, co-chair

Welcome new committee members - Cynthia Forster, co-chair

Old Business:

- Last-minute plans for the Thomas Paine project in September and report on a conference call with the Pennsylvania NIE Committee.

- Update on the Northeast Regional NIE and Youth Readership Conference this July in Albany, NY.

New Business:

- Proposed change to four meetings a year, down from six.

- Development of youth-page awards through the NJPA Better Newspaper Contest.

Walking Tour of Thomas Paine sites in Bordentown:

This interesting presentation by Mae Silver, president of the Thomas Paine Society of Bordentown, will set the tone for the Thomas Paine serialized story to be published in New Jersey and Pennsylvania newspapers this fall.

 Next Meeting:

10:30 a.m., August 2, at the NJPA headquarters in West Trenton.

Agenda for the April 5, 2007, Meeting

Meeting will begin at 10:30 a.m. at the New Jersey Press Association headquarters in West Trenton, N.J.

Approval of Minutes of the February 1 meeting - Shirley Sasor

Welcome new committee members

Old Business:

- Review of Thomas Paine project

- Update on Northeast Regional Conference in Albany this summer

- Report from the World Assn. of Newspapers Conference on NIE and Youth Content - Cynthia Forster, Chris Yatchyshyn

- Great Teacher Workshops-what works, tie-in to testing skills

- Samples of Youth Content from other world newspapers

Agenda for the February 1, 2007, Meeting

Meeting will begin at 10:30 a.m. at the New Jersey Press Association headquarters in West Trenton, N.J.

Welcome new committee members.

Approval of Minutes from the December 7, 2006, meeting.

Old Business:

- Review of the NJNF Teachers at Newspapers internship with nominations from newspapers

- Review of nominations for the NJNF High School Journalism Student of the Year and Bernard Kilgore scholarship

- Review draft of the serialized version of Thomas Paine: American Patriot; final approval or rejection of content

- Discussion of Thomas Paine teacher guide - subcommittee report by Antonette Bomentre-Walter

- Discussion of possible field trip to Bordentown for Thomas Paine tour on April 5

- Will Pennsylvania and/or New York NIE & YR committees join Thomas Paine project?

Lunch @ Noon

New Business:

- N.J. NIE & YR Committee session(s) and attendance at the Mid-Atlantic Regional NIE & YR Conference this summer in Albany, N.Y.

- Discussion of statewide awards for youth pages for the 2008 NJPA Better Newspaper Contest - inclusion in Circulation category or Editorial category?

- Creation of fliers about how youth use and respond to newspaper advertisements

- NIE Tutorial and Sharing:  Great Teacher Workshops - What works for 1 hour or 3 hours

Adjourn @ 1 p.m.

Next Meeting - April 5 at 10:30 a.m., possibly at Jasper's Restaurant in Bordentown, N.J.

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