Photo by Olivia Stanley
Jordan Stanley (left) and Katherine Eastman enjoy a best buddies hug prior to leaving Suffield for their senior years in college.
I have been coordinating the volunteer efforts at The Suffield Observer for many years, and one of my favorite tasks is to seek editors of the month. The September issue has historically been led by rising high school seniors. After hearing about the summer adventures of Jordan Stanley and Katherine Eastman, I reflected upon the year they were editors of The Suffield Observer and how quickly four years pass. Jordan is now a senior at Elon University in North Carolina, and Katherine is a senior at UConn. I did my own ”Where in the World” survey about their experiences as Observer editors and how that experience has shaped their future education and decisions about career choices.
Jordan currently works in the writing center at Elon. This past summer she went to Vietnam as an intern and teaching assistant for English classes under the direction of American Education Group. Jordan worked with students aged 6-18, and most of her time was spent with high-school-aged students, helping them with college essays and SAT preparation. Jordan understands the importance of checking, rechecking and checking again as an editor and the value of attention to detail when writing. She recalled her time as an Observer guest editor and taught the young students how important it is to stay objective, a critical necessity in journalism.
Jordan recalled “the huge boost in confidence” it was to be an editor of the Observer. The opportunity to write an editorial was very special to Jordan. She expressed to me that she has learned that writing an editorial can help you to do good in a tasteful and supportive way.
When Katherine signed on to work as an editor at the Observer, she was excited to work alongside her best friend, Jordan. The Observer experience spurred an interest in journalism as she entered her senior year in high school. Katherine said, “I got to know more about our town and see the hard work it takes putting together the paper each month.”
For the summer prior to entering her senior year at college, Katherine was looking to find a journalism internship for professional experience. She landed an opportunity at the Journal Inquirer. She worked two weeks in this role as an unpaid intern and was then offered a full time, paying summer job. She accepted the role and was assigned to the Living section of the JI. Among her responsibilities was the weekly casino round-up. The article that received the most attention was an interview with drummer Sean Fuller from Florida Georgia Line (a country band).
After hearing about the experiences both Jordan and Katherine had over the summer months, I realized how The Suffield Observer played a small part in their journeys of self-discovery. As my daughters have aged, I have less contact with high school students so I am requesting anyone interested in writing, communications or journalism, please contact me at inbox@thesuffieldobserver.com or call 860-668-7442 so that more students can have this opportunity of beneficial hands-on experience! There are many more opportunities to volunteer at the Observer other than being a guest editor.
Priya Mehta
Priya Mehta volunteered at the Observer as a “prepper” once a month during her entire high school years and also served as a guest editor. Priya is now off to college as a freshman at Georgia Institute of Technology, and I wish her as much success in college as Jordan and Katherine have had! “Where in the World” are all our past student editors? Please feel free to stop in and visit or at least check us out online – you can view the paper electronically now from anywhere in the world!