Journalism students?

Check out the photo above for this one...

Pack 104 packed into The Star pressroom Monday night, waiting patiently - all right, they're mostly 9 and 10 so they weren't all that patient - but they were eager to watch Joe and Bobby set up the big presses for Fast Track, a racing publication that the company prints.
The Cub Scouts sponsored by Central United Methodist Church took a one-hour tour from the front door to where the finished newspaper goes out the back and to your home or the vending racks at your favorite shopping place.
Here's a little of what they learned:
How reporters find storiesHow editors create pages
That spelling matters
That there's nothing more important in our paper than obituaries
That managing editors can say about anything they want
That every job is important
That teamwork is essential to the success of our business
"The press is really loud."
Their stops and helpful tour hosts:
Tiffiany Borders, customer service supervisor and single copy manager
Alan Jenkins, managing editor
Maureen McGee, copy editor
Karin Mullins, pre-press technician
Sherri Pruett, mailroom assistant
And of course Joe and Bobby, who probably managed to rile some moms by letting the Scouts get ink on their hands.Here's hoping one or two of them will get "ink in their blood" even in this so-digital age.
Scouts, the future is in your hands.

Goodbye, friend

LastDaySmile sandi bolick at red cross

From the it's-a-small-world files:
Sandi Bolick was one of the first people I met through my work at The Star after I returned to Shelby several years ago. I've treasured the friendship since then, and early on it was made even more special when I learned that she and a good friend I had left behind in my newspaper work in Georgia is her cousin, Elaine Butler, originally from Kings Mountain.
After 19 years at the American Red Cross chapter here, Sandi's leaving (has actually left as I type this, Wednesday was her last day) to start a new life chapter in Florida.
In addition to telling the Red Cross story together, Sandi and I have shared joys and sorrows and many smiles, particularly as we talked about our granddaughters, who are close in age.
Here's to new beginnings, even for grandmothers!

CUB SCOUT PACK 104