BenitoLink has announced a partnership with the Baler News organization at San Benito High School in an effort to highlight the work of budding student journalists while offering a different perspective on news affecting San Benito County.
Students in Adam Breen’s Technical Writing-News class at SBHS will regularly post stories, photographs and videos to BenitoLink, covering topics in categories such as news, opinion, features, sports, lifestyle, and arts and entertainment. A link to the stories can be found on the right side of the BenitoLink homepage and stories will be shared on the @BalerNews Twitter feed.
“It’s an exciting opportunity for my students to share their work with the community in which they live,” said Breen, who is BenitoLink’s content director and is in his 10th year of teaching newspaper and yearbook classes at SBHS. “I believe our community will be impressed with the quality and depth of stories from these freshmen, sophomores, juniors and seniors. I hope this is just the beginning of BenitoLink’s outreach to budding student journalists throughout our county.” Breen said he encourages teachers at other schools to contact him for more information about featuring their students’ work on the website.
Baler News has transitioned from the traditional print mode of journalism to a web-based platform in recent years.Â
“The increasing shift from print to online media has not decreased the public’s interest in local news, so I plan to have my students augment the coverage of events on campus and throughout our community,” Breen said. “Some of them may become professional journalists down the road, but my main focus is teaching them how to learn about their community through writing about it and develop interviewing, writing and Web skills that will help them in whatever career path they choose.”
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