RSSHappy 10th anniversary, Unleashed!
Yakima Herald-Republic
E-mail
Print
Comments
More 'Unleashed'
- Needed: Better bike lanes
- Happy 10th anniversary, Unleashed!
- "Unleashed is": A student retrospective on 10 years
- Meet the 2008-09 Unleashed staff
- Computer programming class offered
- An aggravating, necessary rite of passage
- Skiing and schooling
Most Read
- This feature is under development and will be available soon.
"It's 7 p.m. on a Tuesday evening. In a windowless but comfortable basement room at the YH-R, a few students have already snagged pizza and soda and one of the really comfy chairs while they wait for the rest of their fellow journalists to arrive for this month's Unleashed meeting."
This is how Mary Fontana, then a senior at Davis High School at the end of the first year of the Unleashed program, began a column, published March 21, 2000, under the headline, "Writing for Unleashed: Hard Work That's Worth It."
"These are teenagers we're talking about," she continued, "so the meeting usually starts no less than 15 minutes late."
Some things haven't changed.
Our monthly meetings still feature pizza and pop. And it's true: They don't always start on time. But that's not the only aspect that has been carried through the first decade of this newspaper's teen program.
As Fontana wrote in 2000, "Writing for Unleashed requires an alert mind and a creative imagination to think up story ideas, sometimes from rather thin air. It requires being comfortable with (or at least not deathly afraid of) talking to complete strangers, since reporters have to actually interview people to research their articles. Attention to detail is a must; every article is held to the same standards of accuracy as the rest of the newspaper."
Today, we celebrate the 10-year anniversary of Unleashed.
Since its inception, Unleashed students -- writers, photographers, artists -- have been individually recognized at the national level for their work. And in recent years, Unleashed has placed second and third for "Program Excellence" from the Newspaper Association of America. It is currently ranked No. 1 in the country.
In some Yakima Valley homes, it's become a family tradition. Several sets of siblings have come through the program since it started. After Mary Fontana, there were Kate Fontana and Colleen Fontana, who currently writes for Unleashed. So does Mia Walsh, the younger sister of Elizabeth and Diana Walsh, two more former Unleashed writers and editors. And that's just to name a few.
When Unleashed officially launched in September 1999, former YH-R education reporter Colleen Pohlig McBrinn -- who started the program with the help of news editor Jeff Garretson -- wrote: "Unleashed begins to close the ever-widening gap between teens and adults in our communities.
"As teens will tell you, they want to be understood. And they deserve to be heard. ...
"Sure, they may have a different perspective peppered with an often indecipherable lingo, and it may seem they move about in their own worlds.
"But as they'll tell you, regardless of age, we all speak the same language. ...
"This is their forum, and like most newspaper reporters or photographers or artists, they will be proud of what they've worked on, and they will take their hits from readers who don't agree. But it will be something they call their own, and it's already become something they're proud of. ..."
Some things haven't changed.
Ten years later, we're still proud. And we hope you are, too. Thanks for reading and being part of our section. And happy 10th anniversary, Unleashed!
- Advertisement