The Springs School Journalism Club’s final meeting of the year last week was also the last meeting for Rafaela (Rafa) DeMartis, a dedicated member of the club since September 2023, who is graduating in June.
Rafa wrote 13 articles last year when she was in seventh grade and seven articles in eighth grade, seeing them published in both The East Hampton Star and The East Hampton Press. She wrote about Melanie Quiroz, who was a student at Springs School and is now a teacher, about the school’s robotics teams when they headed into their first competition, and about a Springs fifth grader who competed internationally in gymnastics, among other things.
Rafa said that the Journalism Club taught her many valuable writing skills such as how to get to the point quickly and cut down on unnecessary words. She also learned better communication skills from interviewing people for her articles. “It was a great experience and I’m very glad I joined the club.”
When she was younger, she said she would see the middle school kids talk about being in the club, and she remembers looking up to them and wishing she could participate. However, when Covid shut down school and extracurricular activities, she thought she would never be able to do that. When Danielle Hamilton brought the club back in the fall of 2023, Rafa said she couldn’t have been happier.
Her fellow club members hope she will continue to write at East Hampton High School next year.
By Julia Stillman, Grade 6