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Weatherly Area student an online reporter
Feb 28, 2009 (Standard-Speaker - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) --
Dan Healy has been busy pounding the keys, writing stories about music, sports and other topics for an online newspaper.
A junior at Weatherly Area High School, Healy recently became a reporter for The Keystone Connection.
It's a newspaper created by youths who take courses from Keystone National High School, an online school based in Bloomsburg.
Healy, 17, is enrolled in one of Keystone's accredited courses through Weatherly Area and said applying for a reporter position made perfect sense.
"I've always enjoyed writing," he said. After submitting a letter of interest, Healy got the job.
He applied for the post online, and all his work is submitted via the Internet. Even staff meetings for The Keystone Connection are held on the Web using conferencing software called "Elluminate Live," said Shermonica Pittman, the newspaper's adviser.
"Students can hear me and see what I put on the electronic whiteboard," said Pittman, a technology and English instructor for Keystone National. "They can participate by using the chat box or speak using their microphone."
Healy said he's been able to interact with reporters from different schools and states.
"It's really quite the experience," he said.
And although the online high school boasts enrollment of 20,000 students in grades nine to 12 from all 50 states and more than 70 countries, there are only 27 newspaper staffers.
"I'm really lucky to be involved," Healy said.
Katie Leach, who facilitates online courses at Weatherly Area, commended Healy on his achievement.
There is a new edition of The Keystone Connection each month.
An upcoming edition will feature Healy's story about "getting into high gear," he explained. It will look at the end of the school year and how students handle it.
Healy has already written about volunteerism, a favorite song, the World Series and Oktoberfest. The story ideas were his, but there are times when a topic may be assigned.
The first edition of The Keystone Connection appeared in January 2005. It is published the entire year and can be viewed at http://my.highschooljournalism.org/pa/bloomsburg/knhs.
jwhalen@standardspeaker.com
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