Fitz Intermediate offers many different kinds of electives for students. One of the electives to choose from is Journalism. Journalism is a year-long class and elective where you can express your feelings, creativity, and imagination while learning at the same time. Journalism is in charge of writing articles for the school newspaper, keeping up with recent school events, taking pictures, recording the Falcon News Flyer, and designing the school yearbook. But Journalism is also a class where students must use crucial skills like communication, teamwork, and writing in order to pass the class.

The teacher who is in charge of leading and teaching the journalists in Journalism is Mrs. Weirich. She is a teacher at Fitz who teaches ELA, AVID 07, and Journalism. If you don’t know her, you might recognize her from her appearance alone. Mrs. Weirich is a tall woman with long brown hair. Her classroom is numbered room 33 which is located next to Ms. Chin’s classroom. In Journalism, she is in charge of teaching her students about photography, camera parts, communication, article writing, and yearbook design. We asked Mrs. Weirich why Journalism is important to Fitz. She said, “Journalism empowers students with critical thinking and communication skills while preparing them to be informed, responsible, and active members of society.” One of the first lessons she teaches in Journalism is photography. In order to take interesting pictures for the yearbook, she must teach her journalists how to take a good picture. After every journalist has learned how to take a good picture, they are given cameras in order to practice their newly found skills. Journalism is not just about photography and having fun. There is also work involved in the class. Each quarter Journalism students must write an article about their beliefs, opinions, or recent school events. This is the part where students really get to express themselves and their opinions. These articles are then posted onto the school newspaper. After working and uploading articles, journalists get to design and work on the yearbook! Designing the yearbook is a summative grade, but it’s almost impossible to get a bad grade on it. Journalists design a certain page with whatever style they want! It’s an assignment where journalists use their creativity to create a final souvenir for Fitz Falcons at the end of the school year.

Even though Journalism may feel and seem like a fun elective to take, it is important to know how the students in Journalism feel about the class. Most students in Journalism have mixed feelings about the class. Some students say the elective is overwhelming, while others find the elective fun! We made students from Journalism complete a survey about how they feel about Journalism. From 2023-2024, statistics show that 21.4% of Fitz Journalism students rated Journalism as their number one class in their schedule. The majority of Journalism students rated Journalism in second place. On average, the students of Journalism rated the elective as 7.14/10. Julieta Calvillo, a student in Journalism, gave us her feedback on Journalism. She said, “I think Journalism is an easy class as long as you pay attention. It’s an easy elective to be in and enjoyable.” Journalism is indeed enjoyable. Students are given the opportunity to be on camera and design the yearbook while the average Fitz students cannot. We also asked another anonymous 8th grader from Journalism if they would recommend Journalism to other students. They said, “Yes, but only if they enjoy writing and filming because if they don’t, it will feel more like a chore than an elective.” This shows that Journalism is an elective suited for people who are confident in themselves and don’t have trouble speaking. On the other hand, an anonymous 8th grader in Journalism expressed their dissatisfaction with Journalism. They said, “The hardest part is having a lot of responsibilities and having to be on camera.” This is completely true and an example of how this elective wouldn’t be ideal for many Fitz students. Many students are camera-shy and often stutter when put on the spot in front of a camera. Overall, some students love Journalism while others don’t like Journalism as much.