Dining With the Stars

by Gresa Shala

What would be better than dining with the stars? On October 30th, class 820 from the Academy of Journalism received a special holiday treat. To enhance our writing abilities and improve our knowledge of the career field of journalism, our I.S. 49ners took a little trip to the Dakota Diner on Forest Ave. to meet the Daily News’s very own staff of reporters and editors!


Class 820, along with one of our journalism teachers, Mrs.Keag and librarian Ms.Rodden, traveled using the bus and train to get to the diner.


Students were thrilled to be included in the trip. “I was so excited! I couldn’t believe that I was actually in the same room with the famous editors of the Daily News,” said student Theadora Hadzi.


Being reporters and writers of the Journalism Gazette, you can be sure that this trip has greatly inspired us in the career field of newspaper writing.


Over a plate of eggs sunny-side- up and hash browns, we listened to Daily News Chief Executive Officer, Marc Z. Kramer, talk about how they would like us to tell what we would like to see more in the paper and how it is important for the newspaper to have the voice of the public heard. Everyone present there was given a survey asking us to write about issues concerning Staten Island and the world in general, that we would like to read about more in the paper. See as there was only a small fraction representing Staten Island’s population at hand; there was a tremendous feedback. We talked about different issues from diseases such as Autism, senior citizens and Veteran’s rights and services, sports, baseball players (A-Rod) to the Iraqi War.


Apart from our class there were various groups present as well, such as the Red Hat society that consists of women 50 and older and the Pink Hat society along with Staten Island’s citizens.


Many of the Daily News’s top editors and writers spoke as well. Renowned sports cartoonist and 66- year old veteran of the newspaper, rallied up the crowd with stories of the Yankees and his own experiences with the newspaper. Brooklyn Bureau Chief JoAnne Wasserman and Boroughs Editor Steve McFarland also spoke at the event.


Although the fun isn’t over yet, before we left, our class was surprised by Mr. Kramer when he said that he would have a Daily News’s staffers come visit our class in school and speak to us in the approaching months and on top of that he would also give us a chance to shadow a reporter at work.

At the end of our stay we got to keep our Daily New Breakfast Club coffee mugs and we had a chance to get autographs from the Daily News staff. ** “Staten Island is the greatest borough in the city….it is its best kept secret.” –Dove???