Photo by Ryan Gladstone / St. Joseph News-Press / Purchase this photo

Benton sophomore Hannah Moore talks with News-Press education reporter Nancy Hull during the kickoff ceremony of Reporting L.I.V.E., a program that brings together area journalists and disadvantaged and underprivileged youths interested in a career in the media. Students will produce stories that will appear in print, on television and on the radio.

Hannah Moore plans to write about the low number of teens who buckle up. Alfred Ramirez wants to write about the popularity of soccer in Guatemala compared to the U.S. And Mackenzie Wiedmer is interested in the impact of high gas prices on teen drivers.

The story ideas came from 17 teens on Wednesday afternoon who are enrolled in a month-long Reporting L.I.V.E. workshop to cull fresh talent in journalism.

Selected disadvantaged students from area high schools are paired with newspaper, television, and radio reporters, as well as a photojournalist, to write a print news story or produce a live newscast.

Tyrell Gray, 16, a sophomore at Benton High School, is unsure what to study in college, but a career behind the pen is possible.

With his mentor Jimmy Myers, a News-Press reporter, by his side, Mr. Gray said he’d like to write his story about how athletics and academics mix, and where high school athletes hoped to be in 10 years.

“I write really good, and I’m not sure, maybe this will give me an idea of what I want to be later in life,” he said.

Patty Santos, a reporter for KQTV, likened the chance to mentor to her daily experience of walking into a news story with little knowledge and expecting to report an intelligible and accurate story.

“I’ll just take it from here and see where it goes,” she said.

Alonzo Weston, who leads the Reporting L.I.V.E. project, said he was reinvigorated by the youth interest in the newspaper industry, which is generally downsizing.

Mr. Weston, a reporter and columnist for the News-Press, initiated the mentoring project three years ago because he felt he was given a chance to fulfill a childhood dream by writing at a newspaper. He wanted to extend the same opportunity to others.

“I worked at a factory, but I always wanted to write,” he said. “They say this is a dying business and maybe it is, but (these) guys give me hope.”

Ahmad Safi can be reached at

ahmadsafi@npgco.com.