Wylie East eighth grader Shaniyahh Riddick didn’t really enjoy writing until recently when her grandfather asked if she would be interested in writing for the local newspaper West Texas Tribune’s Young Scholar column. The opportunity requires Riddick to research a topic and then write an article about what she has learned and share her perspective. Since her first story appeared in the November 2023 issue, Riddick has become a regular writer for the newspaper.
Riddick says she found herself a little surprised that she enjoyed it so much, but it’s the topics on which she writes that really interested her at first. The topics have varied, but the most recent ones really caught her attention.
“As I got older, I started to enjoy writing,” says Riddick. “I really like that I get to learn about new people,” Riddick says Eleanor Roosevelt has been her favorite person to write about so far.
Riddick isn’t the only writer popping up in her family either. Her younger sisters, Alana Alvarado (East Elementary) and Mariahh Riddick (East Intermediate) also caught the writing bug. Each sister’s writing appears alongside their older sister’s article in the paper monthly. The Young Scholar section also includes other student writers from around Abilene.
Publisher for the West Texas Tribune Floyd Miller says he added the Young Scholar section to his paper this past fall after seeing it in a colleague’s newspaper in Austin. He says he assigns the topics, but the students are responsible for the research and completing their writing “as they see it.”
Miller says the column has been well-received by the readers and that the opportunity for adults to hear youth and learn from them is something he finds great value in; he also sees the student writers gaining invaluable communication skills.
Riddick encourages other kids her age to become more open-minded about writing and to not let other’s opinions about you hinder you from trying new things.
“Just sit down and write stuff you have in your mind and from your heart,” says Riddick. “Do what you want to do and not what others think, and if you like it, then continue doing it.”
By Kristen Johnson