Date: Fri 12-Jul-1996

Publication: Bee

Author: STEVEB

Quick Words:

schools-journalism-Gillespie

Full Text:

SCHOOLS

with cut: Young Journalist Wins A Workshop Award

B Y S TEVE B IGHAM

Award-winning journalists don't come around every day, but Newtown resident

Noreen Gillespie may be on her way toward a Pulitzer.

Noreen, who actually attends Darien High School where her mom is a chemistry

teacher, recently attended the 1996 Columbia Scholastic Press Association

Summer Journalism Workshop along with 260 other budding high school

journalists from across the country. She walked away with the conference's

"Best Writer Award."

Noreen, a junior, is a news editor for NEIRAD, Darien High's school newspaper.

As part of the week-long conference, Noreen attended classes each day on

reporting, news editing, page design and more, but most importantly, she and

her fellow journalists were assigned to write.

Her first task was to write a description of herself, her school newspaper and

her high school. Next, she was assigned to interview a fellow student and

write about him or her. Finally, she was sent out onto the Manhattan campus to

find a story. It was her fine reporting and writing skills during this job

that won her the award.

While at camp, construction in and around the dining hall created a messy

situation. The top-flight food service that had been promised had gone awry.

Wasting little time, Noreen got to the heart of the matter, interviewing

students, cafeteria workers and conference workers. Making her story more

complete, she conducted a survey of what people felt about the food service

situation and made a pie graph indicating the results.

Noreen said it was her comprehensive reporting that helped win her the award.

"I felt I covered all the angles and made a good impression on the judges,"

she explained. "The story I covered was relevant at the time, too."

Noreen, who is eager to begin a career in broadcast journalism, hopes to

return to Columbia University after she graduates from high school. The

Columbia School of Journalism, started by legendary newsman Fred Friendly, is

considered one of the finest of its kind in the country.

Though a strong writer, Noreen feels she is a better reporter because of her

willingness to sniff out a story when, on the surface, there appears to be no

news.

"You have to be aggressive and not be afraid to talk to people," she said.

"One of my professors said `go as far as you can until somebody tells you to

stop.'"

Noreen, who attended St Rose School from third to eighth grade, said it has

been incredibly hard to attend a high school nearly an hour's drive away from

home.

"You have to balance a life between two different towns," she explained.

As for what NEIRAD, her high school newspaper, stands for, Noreen explains,

"it's simply Darien spelled backwards."