DHS Journalism 1 students and their teacher, Mr. Nilsen, visited the Boston Globe on March 6 to learn more about how a "real" newspaper operates.

The six attending students were treated to an in-depth study of Globe operations as they sat in on the editorial staff's morning news meeting, spoke privately with Globe Editor-in-Chief Brian McGrory, and took an extensive tour of the facility.

Arriving promptly at 9 AM, the group was greeted by their host, Caroline Metcalf--a DHS alumnus and former editor-in-chief of the Dedham Mirror, who is now an operations strategist for the Globe.

The adventure kicked off with the editorial morning news meeting. Here, the heads of each department discussed who was working on what, which articles/topics are being most read online, and whatever else needed to be dealt with regarding the news stories of the day. This was a privileged fly-on-the-wall opportunity for the students to learn about the inner-workings of a newspaper.

When the morning meeting concluded, the students got to sit down privately with McGrory to ask questions about the field of journalism, the current state of journalism, and his responsibilities as editor-in-chief.

Next came a tour of the facility. Guided by Metcalf, students visited the different sections of the Globe offices, which is now located on State Street in Boston's financial district, stopping off frequently to speak with staff members in every department.

"The facility tour is what made me more interested in writing and journalism in general," said freshman Kathleen DeWinter.

Back in the main visitor's conference room, students met with other kinds of Globe employees, such as the paper's events planner and one of its lawyers. This portion of the day gave students an idea about the numerous employment opportunities offered at a newspaper.

"Even if I don’t want to be a writer, there are so many interesting behind the scenes jobs to choose from," said freshman Sean Molloy.

The day concluded with pizza, gifts (hats and fancy notebooks), and last minute questions before heading off to catch the commuter rail back to Dedham at South Station.

When asked about the overall experience, junior Erin Tobin put it succinctly: “Best field trip I’ve been on in high school."