Crabapple Lane Elem. Students learn journalism from The Citizen

Fifteen Scoop Club kids from Crabapple Lane Elementary School learned how to be a better reporter. Ellie White-Stevens, Editor of The Citizen, stopped by Crabapple Lane on Wednesday afternoon to train the kids on how to be better journalists, what she’s learned in running The Citizen and what kinds of careers are available to storytellers. 

Teacher Mrs. Dana Fairrel sponsors the club that meets each Wednesday for about 40 minutes. In that time they prepare, plan and execute a student-run and written newspaper, The Scoop. Mrs. Fairrel said that she believes her club is the only one of its kind in Fayette County. When she started several years ago, she had over 50 students, but found that number was not manageable, so she has been able to select the best possible students, allowing 16 to be on The Scoop staff each year. 

In their most recent edition, Year 4, Edition 2, September 2025, headlines included Popsicles on the Playground, Fall Book Fair, an interview with Mrs. Moses, a special ed teacher, a recipe for Sour Patch Grapes, an article about the Atlanta Braves, and a fiction piece called The Adventures of David Jackson Part 2: A Cursed Kingdom by Noah Tillery. They sell the six-page newspaper for $.25 each to fellow students and staff. 

What did White-Stevens teach the students? Here’s what they said: 

“I learned how to make a story better,” said fourth-grader Noah Tillery, fourth grade. 

“I learned more about The Citizen,” added Ford Rowland, fifth grade.

“It can be tough writing a newspaper, but it informs people about events currently happening,” said Quinn Vizzini, fifth grade.

White-Stevens taught three things she’s learned from running a newspaper. The first is “You Need to Have a Tough Skin. When you tell the truth for a living, not everyone is happy about it. Sometimes people think you should say more, or less, or say it differently. Some even post mean comments. But here’s the thing — if your story is fair and true, you have to let the criticism slide off like water on a duck’s back.”

Parent Scott Rowland volunteers every week with the students, which include his son Ford. Scott said about his son in the club, “I think he’s learned a lot of confidence in going out to do interviews. He’s learned about a lot to write about different subjects that he normally wouldn’t write about.”

Rowland continued by praising the sponsor, “I think Ms. Fairrel is very patient with all the children. She’s a hard worker, and just so great that she volunteers her time, energy, and effort to put together the only elementary school newspaper in the county. She started this and she does it. So yeah, she’s awesome.”

Additional reporting for this story was done by the student reporters of The Scoop.

*Ms Dana Fairrel and Noah Tillery