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Don’t hang up! That
pleasant female voice you hear when you call The Vision Paper during the
afternoons between now and the end of June will be that of Carissa Henry,
17, a Grade 12 student from
Bishop
Alexander
Carter
Secondary School
. Carissa is participating in the
Cooperative Education Program during the second semester. She will be
doing her placement at The Vision Paper, handling a wide range of
responsibilities designed to give her a taste of what it is like to work
in a community newspaper environment.
Carissa is planning on enrolling in the Journalism Program at
Cambrian
College
once she graduates, so the placement will
give her a chance to see what this kind of career is all about. “I like
to read magazines and I always dreamed about having my own column or
writing articles that would be published in those magazines.”
I first met Carissa when she was in one of my Grade 7 English
classes at
St.
Anne
School
. She was one of those students who stick
out in your memory as a teacher. This was a young girl who was polite and
attentive in class. Even back then she seemed to genuinely enjoy writing
weekly essays, short stories, and working on projects, so her love of
writing has obviously been a passion of hers for a long time. While I
cannot remember specific details about her writing, I do recall that she
had a special gift that made her work stand out from the others.
Carissa is a member of the Yearbook Committee and is also Secretary
of the Student Council. Besides that, she enjoys playing school sports
such as soccer, volleyball and hockey. This has, therefore, been a very
busy year.
For the next few months, Carissa will pack up her books every day
at
noon
, trading in her classroom desk for the
desk in the main reception area of the Vision Paper, where she will remain
on duty from
12 noon
until
4:30 p.m.
From time to time, Carissa’s articles and columns will also appear in
The Vision Paper.
As I look at her sitting at the computer, I wonder if Carissa ever
imagined she would one day be writing stories WITH her former Grade 7
English Teacher instead of FOR HIM? This time, I promise, she won’t have
to worry about being marked on her work.
All of the staff of The Vision Paper, including myself, the
Publisher, Pierre Charette, and the General Manager, Jean-Guy Charette,
are very pleased to welcome Carissa to the “team” and sincerely hope
we can be of some assistance in helping her achieve her dream of one day
becoming a professional journalist.
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