Last Spring, beloved Journalism teacher, Leslie Chausse announced her retirement. Mrs.Chausse began teaching at Morgan in 2005, leaving behind almost 20 years of teaching and knowledge in our English department. Now, English teacher, Eric Carroll has taken over her popular Journalism class here at Morgan.
Mr. Carroll began teaching at Morgan in 2019, previously he worked at Brien McMahon High School in Norwalk, Connecticut. In Norwalk, Mr. Carroll taught a Journalism class, which he speaks very highly of and takes a great sense of pride in. He began teaching this class two years after he began teaching in 2012. He described the program when he first arrived as “run dry”, saying that people “wouldn’t sign up for the class” and overall, the program lacked involvement. Mr. Carroll decided to take on the program after speaking with the teacher at the time, who expressed that she didn’t have the time, nor energy, to continue the program herself.
Mr. Carroll said that going into Journalism in Norwalk, he knew nothing about journalism which was quickly followed by his remark of, “at McMahon, it became my passion, it was my identity.” He quickly turned the program at McMahon around saying, “by the time I left, 3 classes a semester were journalism, I had like 75 or more reporters. We had our own 12-page magazine, 8 page weekly newsletter, and daily articles.” He expressed that this was the first time he had seen students truly working without pressing them to work; he went on to say, “Journalism is real learning.” He says, “it just feels what I think learning should be, it’s authentic, kids have a real voice and people are really reading what they’re writing.”
When taking over the program, Mr. Carroll was impressed by the organization of the Morgan PawPrint and by the amount of work that was being produced by the small number of students. Mr. Carroll also expressed his admiration for the website, which he described as “really well-developed.” He said his goal coming into Morgan is to nail what we have already done. He also complimented the talent amongst the students in the classes, saying “the level of independence and overall engagement, I just feel like I’m driving a Mercedes-Benz right now.”
Mr. Carroll shared that his main goal for our program is to change the way we use social media. He hopes to turn it into its own news source for students. However, he expressed that his biggest dream, of all, is to have a print magazine at Morgan.
Sharing the excitement with Mr. Carroll, returning Journalism student, Libby Burns, recalled her enjoyment of the Journalism class with Mrs. Chausse last year, saying, “I liked how last year we got straight into it, and we had a lot of time to work.” She also said she enjoyed being able to make videos and just, generally, the overall “chill” atmosphere of the class. While she said she enjoyed a laid back class, she also said she likes how Mr. Carroll’s class feels “more structured and serious.” She shared that she likes the deadlines because it teaches her a lesson that will continue outside the class. Libby also went on to say that she feels as though she will learn a lot in the class and voiced her overall excitement for the year to come.
