For the second year in a row, Goodpine Middle School has its very own newspaper. This year, though, thanks to the Newspaper in Education partnership with Homeland Bank, they will see their product on real newsprint.

Last school year, as the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) initiative in parish schools took center stage, schools were encouraged to branch out and offer various types of clubs for students to participate in hands-on programs to stimulate their interests in other educational opportunities than what was traditionally offered.

At Goodpine, teacher Gena Foreman began a Newspaper Club, an opportunity for the third, fourth and fifth graders to experience journalism firsthand and see their product displayed for all students and adults. “Last year, we used our computers and printed out our newspaper on regular copy paper and distributed them at the school,” Foreman said. “This year, though, thanks to the Newspaper in Education program, our kids will see their work in an actual newspaper.”

The Newspaper in Education program is a partnership with Homeland Bank, the LaSalle Parish School System and The Jena Times newspaper. Along with providing employees of the system with digital subscriptions to the weekly newspaper, other ventures are conducted to advance the students education utilizing their parish newspaper.

“When we upgraded our computer systems at our newspaper office, we had several of our older, industry- standard Mac computers that we no longer needed,” stated Times-Signal owner Kim Franklin. “We were thrilled to donate two of those to Good Pine and teach them how to use the same programs we use to build our newspaper.”

Those computers are used by the school’s newspaper club and were instrumental in producing their very first newspaper printed at the same printing press The Jena Times uses for their weekly issues.

This week, the club’s first edition of the 2025-2026 school year was published, and the Times-Signal

included the four-page newspaper in this week’s regular newspaper for the public to see the work the students have done.

“The stories and pictures in the Goodpine Giant Times are all by the students and faculty and we were excited to be able to showcase them for all of LaSalle Parish to experience,” Editor Craig Franklin said. “In addition to the computers, we were also able to donate the club a digital camera, which the students learned to use and provided the pictures for their newspaper.”

The Jena Times also had an additional 350 copies of the four-page school newspaper printed for the school to distribute with students, staff and parents.

Foreman said allowing the club members to see their actual stories and pictures on real newspaper paper is exciting for the entire club.

“To see their finished product, with their names printed as the authors of the stories, helps them with a feeling of accomplishment and hopefully will instill in them the desire to continue with their creativity,” Foreman said. “They really worked hard on this and having a real paper in their hands will help motivate them as we continue producing a newspaper each month for the school.”

The monthly newspaper highlights things that are going on at the school with the club’s members serving as reporters, all overseen by Foreman.

“We are so proud of these students and their initiative to step out and produce their very own newspaper,” Franklin said. “Although we won’t include their newspaper in our newspaper each month, we will continue to print them for the school for them to distribute.”

The Franklins also thanked Foreman for her work with the club and her dedication to providing opportunities for students to expand their knowledge.

“As Mrs. Foreman can attest, there is a lot of work that goes into producing a newspaper each week and without her guidance and hard work, this wouldn’t have been possible,” Kim Franklin said. “The club only meets once a month so there is much work that has to take place after hours. It definitely shows her love for her students and her school. I do hope the school and the parents appreciate all that she is doing.”

(The special fourpage Goodpine Giant Times is included in this week’s issue as an insert.)

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