Some day, a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist will say “I got my start in journalism in high school working on the Yonkers Student Grapevine.”

This year, more than 70 students representing all Yonkers high schools had the opportunity to publish the Grapevine, their own student newspaper. Students worked as reporters, photographers, and editors, and wrote about the great happenings and people in their schools. They produced monthly publications that were distributed to all 24,000 students’ families in the school district, as well as the over 40,000 readers of the weekly YonkersRising newspaper.

This city-wide program was created through a three-way partnership between Rising Publications, publisher of YonkersRising (formerly the Home News and Times) and funder of the program, the Yonkers Public Schools, and Yonkers Partners in Education. “It’s amazing what can be accomplished when the community works together at this level,” said Wendy Nadel, YPIE Executive Director. “The Yonkers Student Grapevine is a perfect example of how this type of public/private partnership benefits our students.” Jerilynne Fierstein, Yonkers Public Schools Communications Officer, added, “When rigor and relevance drive the instructional programs, as they do in Yonkers, then what could be more enriching and exciting than a professionally published community newspaper written by students? The Grapevine program is a huge win for the students, the school district, and the community.”

Not only did students have an incredible experience being part of this program, but the skills they developed helped with their class work and may even contribute to future college plans. Each school had a core staff of about 8-12 writers and allowed “guest” writers to contribute pieces throughout the year. Students learned to change their writing styles “to write in a way that is interesting for other people to read,” noted Christien Jackson, a senior at Roosevelt High School. He said that participating in this program helped him improve his work in his English class as well. “The best part was opening up an issue, reading an article that you worked so hard on, smiling, and feeling so smart!”

Maria Cristina Cruz, a senior at Saunders High School, didn’t realize that the program would also be so exciting. Each month, students conducted interviews and often learned “extraordinary things” about their teachers, like how they’d published books and anthologies of poems.

Probably the most difficult part of the year-long program was meeting the strict deadlines. “It can be extremely frustrating when people don’t do what they’re supposed to do,” said Maria Cristina. Working on the Grapevine taught her to deal with the stress of deadlines, certainly something that will help her manage her workload in college next year.

“As a business person working in Yonkers, this is a wonderful way to work with the community and benefit so many students,” said Nick Sprayregen, President of Rising Development and Rising Media Group.

Best of all, three students have been offered paid internships this summer at Rising Publications: Maria Christina Cruz from Saunders; Bayan Baker, a 10th grader from Yonkers High School, and Emmanuel Koomson, a 10th grader from Gorton High School. Perhaps a career in journalism is just around the corner? The Grapevine certainly has opened that door.