WANTED: STUDENT REPORTERS

These past weeks, our photographers have been having a hectic time covering local schools.
Saravanan, Dhanasekar and Rajesh work round the clock. Almost.
Rajesh was amused when he went out to cover the campaign of the student elections at Padma Seshadri Bal Bhavan in the K. K. Nagar neighbourhood.
Amused at the sight of a group of hyperactive boys who were keen to show off the giant flexi banner they had designed and produced to take the campus campaign to a different level.
PSBB has some very firm ground rules as far as student elections go.
But the students who were in the thick of a friendly campaign let loose their creativity and the 'Arcot Road Times' newspaper was keen to feature the event.
Every June, the nuns of the FMM congregation who manage Rosary Matric School for Girls in San Thome never fail to invite us to the swearing-in ceremony of the Student Pupil Leaders.
The election is not as boisterous and colourful as that of PSBB.
The nuns have a way of bringing discipline and calm to anything that they are involved in.
But the crowning of the Pupil Leader and her assistant has a charm of its own.
The scene could well be one taken out of a Christmastime play!
For those of you with school-going children, it must be fairly evident that this is the season for schools to go through the cycle of cultural festivals, sports meets and the launch of all the clubs on campus.
So while Dhanasekar of 'Adyar Times' braved the persistent drizzle to focus on wildly-painted faces at the cultural festival which was hosted by Bala Vidya Mandir at its Gandhi Nagar campus last weekend, Saravanan had to forego his lunch this Friday to ensure that he was on the spot when the excited team of P. S. Senior lifted the trophy for being the best at the inter-school cultural fest Sir Sivaswami Kalalaya hosted at its campus in Mylapore.
Being community newspapers, we would like to closely cover the major events at schools and the unique achievements of young people.
But we would also like schools to encourage a couple of their senior students to be reporters of these happenings.
Surely, we could spot a couple of teenagers who have a nose for news, are wiling to seek out information and enjoy writing.
We should encourage these youngsters to be campus reporters and writers.
They could take turns to report on student council elections, sports and cultural meets, special projects and guests visiting the campus and lots more.
And if some of them can e-mail sharp and colourful pictures, the contribution would be complete.
Saravanan, our photographer at 'Mylapore Times' would also be a happy man.
He could squeeze time to watch 'Sivaji' for the third time!