Education

WRAL Wednesday: Class at Holly Springs High School writes about WRAL stories

A classroom at Holly Springs High School watches WRAL weekly then writes about current events.
Posted 2023-05-16T12:31:15+00:00 - Updated 2023-05-17T10:00:00+00:00
WRAL Wednesday: Holly Springs classroom writes about WRAL

A classroom at Holly Springs High School visits the WRAL.com homepage weekly then writes about current events.

Kelly O'Hara has taught there for nine years and started "WRAL Wednesday" three years ago. She said it was her students' idea as much as her own.

"It was just something fun to do because I wanted to make sure they were looking at current events and what was happening," O'Hara said. "It's a way to have them be a part of the community, knowing and understanding what's going on around them."

As an occupational course of study teacher, O'Hara prepares her class for careers after high school. Students spend a lot of their time in the classroom learning business practices and making items like T-shirts, wreaths, candles, soap and more.

They also write their thoughts and feelings down in a daily journal. On Wednesdays, they write about the news.

"Every Wednesday they pull up WRAL.com and they listen to or read a story online and write about it," O'Hara said. "WRAL Wednesday is an exciting day in our classroom."

The class even wears WRAL Wednesday T-shirts, which the students made right inside the classroom using a printing machine.

WRAL Wednesday: Class at Holly Springs High School writes about WRAL stories
WRAL Wednesday: Class at Holly Springs High School writes about WRAL stories

The students in O'Hara's class all have some kind of learning disability or developmental disability, such as down syndrome or autism.

To O'Hara, the most important part of WRAL Wednesday is making sure they're able to write freely and without influence from adults.

"I don't want to tell them how to think," she said. "Children should be able to think for themselves and make their own decisions and not be swayed by adults."

Thinking freely is important to the whole class, especially Alec Doten-Lewis, who recently wrote about Gov. Roy Cooper's response to school shootings.

"People tend to believe that guns are the cause of school shootings, but it's the person itself -- either from bullying or mental health," said Doten-Lewis. "We clearly need more help in our system."

"He clearly has his own opinions about these articles that he's read," O'Hara emphasized.

School shootings came up a lot because the students can obviously relate.

"I've learned there are lots of school shootings," said another student, Olivia Sasser, who said they make her feel "scared and terrified."

O'Hara was surprised to learn what other news stories her students cared about. Most gravitated to serious topics, including war and world news, violent crime and even climate change.

"It's a great way to get to know them and know what their interests are," O'Hara said.

Another student, Riley Peacock, is most interested in crime stories and murder.

"It's exciting," said Peacock, who would love to work with dogs in her future career.

Twins Zeke and Zach Cianfrani are both interested in YouTube as a platform to influence others and share their ideas with the world.

Zeke is especially passionate about the environment.

"People trash the world every single day," Zeke said. "They litter and don't pick up after themselves. That's basically irresponsible."

"I like writing about stuff that caught my eye," Zach said.

Josiah Jones, a 12th grader, wants to own his own barbershop one day. He loves to read weather stories and write about the forecast.

Izzy Roberson said she likes WRAL Wednesday and loves to paint.

Thank you to Kelly O'Hara and other faculty at Holly Springs High School for inviting WRAL to campus and showing an interest in the news. Thank you to these students for sharing their thoughts on important issues. WRAL looks forward to publishing journal entries from O'Hara's class next year under the brand WRAL Wednesday,

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