By Trevor Greenway

Getting teenagers engaged in anything these days is a feat on its own. Getting them excited about local journalism, newspapers and cutting through misinformation is perhaps and even greater challenge.

But the Low Down’s fearless editor-in-chief Trevor Greenway was up for the challenge and spent an afternoon workshopping story ideas with Grade 10 students at St. Mike’s High School in Low in late September.

The workshops were a collaboration between the Fairbairn House Heritage Centre and the Low Down and were designed to help students develop story ideas, cut through misinformation, take compelling photographs and learn the importance of fact-based reporting in today’s media landscape. Editors at the Low Down worked with the students throughout the process, editing their work and ultimately preparing it for publication in a St. Mike’s Student Page in the Low Down’s Oct. 18 edition.

The story ideas that flowed from the student’s minds involved everything from women’s rights and sports to drug use, homelessness and conspiracy theories around the Hawaii fires. There was even a listicle on different types of pasta.

And it wasn’t difficult to get the kids talking about the world around them. The kids at St. Mike’s are naturally curious and want their voices heard.

Below you will find stories that the students wrote themselves. They took time to interview subjects, dive into research and craft, in most cases, their first published pieces of work.