The newspaper, a stalwart of any good community, and the students at Park View Middle School are doing their part to keep the Park View community informed.

Founded last year by seventh grade science teacher Mark Dengel and named “What’s New Park View,” the editorial staff consists of 15 students who write articles on areas of interest to them personally, or on “hot topics” in the school or greater community.

All students are members of Dengel’s 7Wonders team. They have chosen not to participate in music classes, so they fulfill their period obligation by writing. Students write one article a month for the entire school year. Each student submits an article, but due to limited space not every article gets printed.

“Students start each month with a brainstorming session on what they want to cover. I try to let them have lots of independence when it comes to their articles,” said Dengel.

While there have been some articles that Dengel deemed too “hot” or confrontational, he was impressed with the students’ desire to write them.

“We are not looking to upset or anger anyone, especially the administration. But the fact that they felt these were important issues to tackle made me proud,” Dengel said.

In the past they have written about such topics as mechanical versus lead pencils, coffee as a rite of passage for teenagers, using electronic devices in the classroom, the Patriots’ victory at the Super Bowl and others.

Since the class only meets once a week for 45 minutes, the students rely on outside research for their articles. With a minimum of between 400 to 700 words per article, the students help each other with grammar, punctuation and other editorial issues.

The upcoming paper will have articles that are focused on cameras in the hallways, PVTV (the school television network), the Student Council, St. Patrick’s Day and more.

The students who make up the staff of the newspaper are Gianni Broccoli, Skyla Chhea, Sofia D'Angelos, Gabriel Garto, Nickolas Genao, Giovanni Grundy, Rowan Hanley, Jordan Heng, Ghassan Jomaa, Jack Neville, Alicia Ponte, Keira Nolan, Christian Nuñez, Jaelyn Laforte and Julie St. Nelus, who is the only grade 8 student on the paper with special permission from Dengel.

To view the paper in its entirety go to cpsed.net/pview/PDFs/wnpv/wnpv_2-17.pdf.