GSCTX Trains Media Girls

The following piece was written by a group of Girl Scouts in the Texas Skies Service Unit. They came together Wednesday, July 15, to be trained as reporters for Girl Scouts. As part of a group writing exercise to practice their new skills, the following girls contributed to this story by interviewing, writing or editing: Kayley, Girl Scout Brownie; Bella, Girl Scout Cadette; Hailey, Girl Scout Junior; Mckenna, Girl Scout Senior; Grayson, Girl Scout Senior; Ansley, Girl Scout Cadette; Tori, Girl Scout Cadette; Sarah, Girl Scout Cadette; Maecyn, Girl Scout Cadette; Emily, Girl Scout Cadette; and Kiley; Girl Scout Junior. Check out the story on the paper's website: http://bit.ly/1GI1ArL

On July 15, Girl Scouts from the Girl Scout Media Girls went to the Taylor Press. They asked questions like, “what inspired you to become a reporter?”

We learned a lot of cool stuff, like how a good story contains the who, what, when, where, why and how. They told us how they make newspapers, and write the stories that are put into the newspaper. They explained that not only do they work with the newspaper, but also with online media like Facebook and their very own website.

To write to these different audiences, they need to write all of these in slightly different ways. They even gave us our very own newspaper!

We learned there are many jobs that come along with working with the newspaper. There are reporters, photographers, and editors, but there are also graphic designers and people in charge of the advertisements.

Next, we visited Granite Print, where the newspaper is printed. The process first starts with people in the main office writing stories and then sending it over to the printing company.

Then, a machine called a Computer to Plate (CTP) makes a printing plate that is made out of aluminum. In the CTP room, the lights were yellow to help protect the plates. We then went into the room with the press; it smelled overwhelmingly of ink and was very cold.

The press machines were large and bright blue. The press prints on paper that comes on rolls. Each roll of paper contains about 12 miles of paper. The press uses about 70 to 80 of these rolls per month. As the paper goes through the printing machines, they call it a web. The next machine puts the inserts into the newspaper, and puts the address labels on the newspaper. The last machine bundles up the newspaper.

Did you know that all the colors on a newspaper are made of four main colors? These colors are cyan, magenta, yellow, and black.It was very fun to go into a place like that. As you can see, this has been a really interesting and fun experience.

For more information on how to join Girl Scouts of Central Texas and Media Girls, visit www.gsctx.org.