GALLIPOLIS — For the past two days, we’ve enjoyed the privilege of hosting two River Valley Middle School students who were part of the school’s job shadow program.

Eighth-grade students Katelynn Henry and Michaela Pope got a little taste of the daily operation at the Gallipolis Daily Tribune, spending time with me and reporter Elizabeth Rigel.

Job shadowing is an important tool that can help students determine their course for the future, whether that involves going to college, technical or trade school or heading straight into the workforce following high school. Hopefully, the experience the students gained during this two-day exercise will encourage them to pursue excellence in the classroom now and in the future as they set out into the world.

We at the Tribune are honored to have been asked to play a small role in developing students to become future leaders.

Following are short essays written by Katelynn and Michaela regarding their expriences at the Tribune during the job shadowing program.

• • •

My name is Katelynn Rose Henry. I’m 13 years old and I’ve lived in Gallipolis all my life.

About a week ago. my school told the eighth grade classes about the Job Shadowing program. I was excited, of course. The teachers gave us papers and we picked out the jobs we might want to try out. I love to write, so I picked Journalism. They told us more about it later, who we would be shadowing, what job we got, and where it would be. They even told us what to wear. No jeans and no logos.

Then came the dreaded day. I was a little nervous. Okay not really a little nervous, but who wasn’t? We got our stuff, I took a notebook and my permission papers, and we went to the cafeteria to be told what bus to get on.

I sat with my friends at the lunch table and we joked around for a few minutes before the teacher got our attention. That’s about the time my stomach was assaulted by butterflies.

She called our names and took attendance, then told us what bus to ride. Someone had told me that another girl was doing Journalism too, but I didn’t hear her name. I walked out to the bus with my friends and we got our seats farther back from the teacher before anyone else could get them.

The bus driver explained to us what her rules were, and we took off. I listened to my MP3 player and talked to my friend Beth that I was sitting with. Most of my other friends got off soon, so I just talked to her.

Then I heard my name being called. “Katelynn Henry and Michaela Pope, you’re off next,” the teacher had announced to us. So that’s who I was shadowing with.

When the bus came to a stop, we both reluctantly stood up and got off. The teacher followed to show us where to go and what to say. We walked up the pavement and into the building, now looking a little intimidating to me. The front receptionist greeted us with a friendly smile, which made me feel a little better. Michaela offered me a small smile too, confirming what I thought about her being just as nervous as I was.

The woman at the front desk called for our shadow host and we waited a few seconds. When he came around the corner, I was even more intimidated by him than I was by the building.

He was tall, much taller than I was, and he looked strong enough to rush me in one of his handshakes. I wanted to cower away from him, but I kept my shoulders stiff and my back straight.

He told us his name was Andrew and I relaxed a little. His voice was friendly enough. The teacher left and he showed us around the building, introducing us to people as we went. He joked with the other employees and I relaxed some more. They bantered like it was an everyday occurence, saying that we should be afraid of each of them because they bite. Little things that make you want to laugh.

We went into the back and we saw the machines that print the newpapers, and the people who run those machines. Andrew told us about all the newspapers they print there, because they don’t just print for Gallipolis. He said we would be doing some writing for the newspaper the following day, and my stomach did a little flip. The only thing I’d ever written that had went public was my essay for the I’m a Child of Appalachia contest. My writing teacher had sort of pushed me to do it, and I won.

• • •

My name is Michaela Pope. I’m in eighth grade at River Valley Middle School and I’ve been job shadowing Andrew and Liz for the past two days now at the Daily Tribune.

I’m 14 years old and I’ve lived in Vinton all my life. I love to write. My favorite style of writing is free writing because it’s up to you what you write you don’t have to listen to anybody else. If you ask me to write freely, though, I ‘m warning you I will most likely end up writing about music because my favorite thing is music I listen to it all day long. If I were a reporter I would write about concerts so that I had an excuse to miss work that day to take pictures for my article on the concert.

When I first walked in the door I was so nervous it wasn’t even funny, but that only lasted about five minutes becuse the people here welcome you warmly. The first thing Andrew did was introduce me to everybody and showed me the machine that made the newspaper, then we wher off to take pictures on a story he was working on. The first day we went everywhere, for example we went with Liz to the courthouse, to a food pantry, and also to the police office where they had locked up weapons and we saw an old machine gun.

Wednesday we went to the dog pound to get a story on rescued dogs. Thats going to be fun! Over the past few days I’ve discovered this job is something I would like to do when I’m older. I’m not a person that can sit at a desk all day, and in this job you don’t have to because you have to go a lot of places to get your story and to get the pictures you need for that story. When I’m older I’m definently going to college to become a reporter.

These two days job shadowing has inspired me greatly. I would like to thank Andrew and Liz and the rest of the staff for letting me come these two days. I hope to see you again, I had so much fun these past few days I wish it was more than two days.