News

Journalists' child inspires new online newspaper at school

Second issue of The Blessed Sun to be published soon

Published: April 24, 2010   

By Serenah McKay
Rogers correspondent

Kate Zibluk, a fourth-grader at Blessed Sacrament School in Jonesboro, has the tools of the trade -- a notebook and computer -- to begin her journalism career.

Kate Zibluk, a fourth-grader at Blessed Sacrament School in Jonesboro, has the tools of the trade -- a notebook and computer -- to begin her journalism career.

Kate Zibluk, 10, surprised her parents when, on vacation in Boston, she suddenly said over a restaurant meal that she wanted to start a newspaper at her school, Blessed Sacrament in Jonesboro.

"And it needs to be online, so it will be green," the environmentally conscious fourth-grader said.

Kate is the daughter of two journalists, but they had no clue of her interest in newspapers.

Her mom, Sara McNeil, said of Kate's idea, "It was odd, because she sees us read and write so much, I thought she was quite turned off by the whole thing."

McNeil is director of university communications at Arkansas State University. Kate's dad, Jack Zibluk, is associate professor of journalism and printing at ASU, and teaches photography.

But Kate said she got the idea for a school paper from watching television shows that had school newspapers, "and I thought that would be fun to do."

After bringing up the idea to her parents, they approached school officials for approval. A contest among fourth- through sixth-graders yielded the name for the paper -- The Blessed Sun, giving a nod to the local daily newspaper, The Jonesboro Sun. Nathan McMinn and Rayleigh Barns submitted the winning entry.

Carry Wilson, the school's computer teacher and librarian, designs the online newspaper, and physical education teacher Pam Willard does the copy editing. The students contribute stories and photographs.

The first edition, at three pages, was published in November. It included articles on the school's Battle of the Books, a local Boy Scout troup and the school's efforts to go green. Principal Dee Pillow wrote an introduction to the new venture, giving a nod to Kate.

"A special thanks is due to Kate Zibluk for the suggestion to start a newspaper," Pillow wrote. "Without her inspiration, this paper would not exist."

Another issue will come out this semester, Kate said. She hopes that next semester the newspaper will be published more frequently. She would also like to see the paper include more topics, and for each class to have its own page.

Kate is modest about her part in getting the paper off the ground, and doesn't mind looking to her parents for pointers.

"Since both my parents are writers, they give me advice about what to write about and where to put it and things," she said. "They just said to let all the kids in the school write about things, and my parents just approved of it and helped the principal get the newspaper out. The other kids in the school really did all the work on the articles and things."

The school-wide participation is one of the best things about the paper, Kate's parents said.

"It's been such an inclusive thing, we think that's wonderful," McNeil said.

Kate recently wrote her first article, which she hopes will make the next edition. It's about the sixth-graders leaving at the end of the school year for the public middle school. She would consider a career as a journalist because she enjoys both writing and photography, but said her favorite subject is science.

On a vacation last year to visit her grandmother in Connecticut, her dad said, Kate asked to visit the Garbage Museum at the Connecticut Resources Recovery Recycling Center in Stratford instead of an amusement park or other attraction.

"She's a very interesting kid," he said.

Blessed Sacrament School's Web site is at http://catholicjonesboro.com/SCHOOL/bscs.htm" target="null"> http://catholicjonesboro.com/SCHOOL/bscs.htm.