Lake County Gazette

Journalism Club has been introduced as a new extracurricular activity for fourth and fifth grade students at Mokena Intermediate School. The club meets weekly after school, providing students with opportunities to learn about journalism and develop skills in reporting, writing, and multimedia content creation. The main objective is to publish a monthly digital school newspaper called MISFLEX.

The idea for the club came from fifth grader Emma Carter. She explained her motivation: “there was a book I was reading and it had newspapers in it and I thought it would be a good idea to have a club about it at MIS.” Carter approached a teacher to sponsor the initiative and promoted the club among her peers.

During meetings, members focus on researching topics relevant to their fellow students, drafting articles, publishing content, and taking or selecting photographs to accompany their stories. Fifth grade student Liz Nwanojuo commented on the benefits: “Journalism Club has helped us achieve a lot of our goals in writing. Our goals are to spread awareness about how to solve problems in our school and I am now writing about topics in history.”

The first issue of MISFLEX included features on skin care, monarch butterflies, Indigenous Peoples Day, soccer at recess, as well as an interactive trivia section for students and teachers.

Benjamin Aquite, another fifth grade journalist, described his experience: “Journalism Club is extremely fun. All of us are here to bring news and knowledge to the brain.”

One of the early projects tackled by six members involved identifying challenges related to playing soccer during recess. Their article outlined issues and proposed solutions. Following their report, the principal purchased new balls and flags for recess use and repaired a broken soccer goal.

Ms. Nisrin Al-Takriti, Journalism Club sponsor and Mokena Intermediate School teacher, said: “When Emma C. showed her passion for journalism, I knew it was time to create the MIS Journalism Club. Her enthusiasm reminded me that young voices deserve to be heard and deserve the best tools to amplify them. Drawing from my tech experience, I wanted to give this generation more than traditional reporting skills. I wanted to expose them to the digital platforms, multimedia storytelling, and innovative features that can transform how they share their perspectives with the world. Emma's spark ignited something bigger: a space where journalism meets technology, and where students can discover new, powerful ways to express their voices."

Mokena Intermediate School is part of Mokena School District 159, which also includes Mokena Elementary School and Mokena Junior High School within Will County. According to data from the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE), District 159 employs 97 teachers with an average salary of $61,802; 85 percent are women while 15 percent are men; no teachers had more than 10 absences last year.

Demographically, Mokena School District 159 is comprised of 85 percent White students; Black students make up 2.7 percent; Hispanic students represent 7.7 percent; Asian students account for 2.1 percent.

In 2020,the district spent $23,197 per student, totaling $35 million across all schools.