I spent portions of a couple school years while at college helping get a newspaper underway at the Franklin Learning Center, a strong, diverse magnet school in the Spring Garden neighborhood of Philadelphia.

So, I was excited to take some time away from my freelancing work once a week to work with the journalism club at Frankford High School. It was a short walk, and I could just fill in the time lost at night.

I was suddenly the professional journalist half of a Prime Movers program that formerly had me as the student journalist.

I made it a half dozen Thursday after-school meetings, enough to meet the core group of seven or so students and help them launch a WordPress blog for their content, but some rather large, fairly unexpected changes have happened.

I bought a house in a neighborhood that made the trip a 15-minute El ride (and added some responsibility) and, as a larger conflict, I then accepted a full-time job.

So, now I’m reaching out to a host of colleagues to fill as many of the coming weeks with insightful professional journalists (if you’re in Philly and are interested, contact me). Still, though I’ve worked with high school journalism clubs before and only worked with the Pioneer Times of FHS for a couple months, I certainly learned a thing or too — in addition to, I hope, teaching some of those kids something.

Class photo from a Frankford High School long since gone

Frankford High School is a school that, like the neighborhood it served, was once lily white and has seen a dramatic complexion change since.

According to School District of Philadelphia data, as recent as the 2003/2004 school year, a quarter of it’s roughly 2,000 students were white, but now fewer than one in ten are. While Asian and Latino numbers have remained relatively stable over that time, a school that was half populated by black students in 2003 has now settled around more than 60 percent.

That usually makes for some strife, and an uptick in lower income students and suspensions seems to have followed.

But it certainly isn’t known to be anywhere near as dysfunctional and (relatively) dangerous as other big public schools in Philadelphia. Rather, it has active after school programs — like the journalism club and its celebrated culinary program, which the focus of a feature-length documentary that debuted last year. Additionally, while the student population’s look has changed, the school still has an active alumni group and some notable ones among them.

It was with this knowledge that I first came to the school in October to meet journalism club adviser Beth Ziegenfus, who, by measure of the 10 or so students attendance on that first day, was well-liked and caring.

I shared with them the coverage of their neighborhood, from community blog Frankford Gazette, to the localized coverage of NEast Philly to the Northeast Times.

Also, over the next few weeks, I came to know a handful of the group’s regularly attending members, tried to dispense as much general knowledge on journalism, writing and multimedia as I could and, yes, became certain of a few truths.

Read the take aways from last stint helping to lead a journalism program.

1. All kids aren’t ready to give up the printed product — It’s in college that most people become really Web native, with the dispersal of high speed Internet, online assignments, IM and other college standards. This will, of course, continue to shift, but my FHS kids were all interested in seeing their byline in print. (Something I’ve experienced before.)
2. Kids in a journalism club are going to be among the best of the best, so treat them that way — This is certainly something I’ve already experienced, but it’s always nice to be reminded. Kids who are going to give up their after school time for journalism are going to be
3. Make it more than journalism — Journalism and the Fourth Estate and Democracy and all that bull shit doesn’t interest 99.9999999 percent of high school students. Talk about deadline and lede writing and multimedia and Web development being great for succeeding in college
4. Do let kids play with multimedia — All the kids got excited about running around the school with a camera for video and photos. (Get them excited first, then bring on the learning)
5. Talk to high school kids like adults, because they (practically) are — Come on, you remember hating that teacher who treated you like a child. Give them the benefit of the doubt, understand that they may know something you don’t and act like it.

I hope to make it back there, at some point, if some flexibility comes my way at my new job, but, unfortunately, a three p.m. start time in a neighborhood that is probably 30-35 minutes from my work doesn’t make that seem likely anytime soon.

The stairway of the Franklin Learning Center that I took to Mr. Sedwin's classroom each week.

You’re supposed to learn from teaching, or something like that.

I suppose with that knowledge in hand, I knew I’d learn something when, two years ago, I first walked into the Franklin Learning Center, a magnet high school in the Spring Garden neighborhood of Philadelphia.

I was there to help launch a student newspaper. I, too, was a student, writing for The Temple News, the college newspaper of Temple University.

Sometimes we’d get as many as 10 students to turn out, but there was a faithful three or four who kept coming out.

In fall 2006, I first went out to FLC and we had enough success that I was asked to speak on a panel at the national Journalism Education Association national conference held in Center City in November 2007. I stuck with it until April 2008, as we watched some of those more faithful students get after-school jobs and peter out. While I started on my own as a pilot, my work there was eventually rolled into a growing Prime Movers program.

It wasn’t an eternity, but nearly two full school years working on a school newspaper was something. I learned plenty that was relevant.

• Sometimes, bigger goals are easier than small ones — We struggled a lot with getting the deadlines met, a product put out, an audience built and sustainability instituted. In fact, the revived Franklin mostly died as I was transitioning out because of my graduation. But I couldn’t help but think of the handful of kids with whom I had contact and think about the lessons they learned, the directions they took and the interest many developed. Those were bigger successes, I felt.
• Most students still valued a print product — We didn’t have the cash for this yet, and they were still interested in seeing their byline anywhere, including online, but print still had this value to most.
• Writing is a bigger draw than journalism — Covering a community in anyway wasn’t nearly as interesting to most of our students as writing of any kind. Poetry, by example, was one of the most popular requests to contribute. We also had a lot of requests to be columnists — a request I pushed back on, actually.
• Get a group of kids together and you’d be surprised about different interests – Of our core group of five, we had a better leader, someone more interested in managing the web, someone who wanted to offer design and art, someone who wanted to write poetry and someone who wanted to report.
• Having a teacher-adviser who the students like is instrumental – I was blessed to be working with Jeff Sedwin, an older, more established teacher whom most students seemed to like, respect and trust. …While mostly easy going, he wasn’t afraid to come down on kids. He was a great fit.
• A little energy and passion goes a long way -- It is so obvious if you actually enjoy what you’re doing. If you’re having fun and are comfortable and know what you’re talking about, it’ll come through.
• Don’t keep anyone there at will -- He or she will infect the group.

Mike Levin speaks on a panel about young reporters, with Dorothy Gilliam moderating, and Acel Moore, me, and Prime Mover participants looking on at fall 2007 JEA conference.

On Nov. 9 2007, one year ago today, after founding and leading a student newspaper at the Franklin Learning Center for a school year and a half, I was asked to present and take part in a panel discussion on youth journalism at the Journalism Education Association conference held at the Marriot in Center City, Philadelphia Nov. 8-11.

The panel was called “Building Journalism Programs Outside the Curriculum.” See the program here [PDF].

Among others, I was proud to speak alongside Pulitzer-Prize winner Acel Moore, among the journalists I most respect, and Philadelphia Inquirer photographer Mike Levin.

I mostly focused on the challenges I faced, contrasted with the effect it had on the small stable of loyal participants I found.