Noah Johnson Daily Press Daily Press Newspapers in Education (NIE) Coordinator Ava Fix tallies votes from the Bonifas Art Chronicles contest, one of the many NIE programs.

ESCANABA — The Daily Press is seeking the community’s help to fund the current Newspapers in Education (NIE) program led by NIE Coordinator Ava Fix.

“NIE is a program run by the Daily Press that grants free newspapers to 13 different schools in the U.P. with no cost to the teachers, students, or schools,” Fix explained.

Between the 13 schools, the Daily Press provides over 1,500 newspapers to 64 classrooms to over 1,500 students.

Teachers have reported that the program helps students develop a deeper understanding of current events and civic engagement, leading to more informed students.

By using the newspaper as a teaching tool, educators can connect academic subjects to real-world issues, and it makes learning more relevant and engaging.

Fix, a native of the area, experienced the program’s benefits when she was in school and wants to bring those benefits to the next generation.

“It taught me a lot about grammar, writing, financial literacy, literacy, and local government,” she said.

Research has shown that the NIE program has a positive impact on student learning outcomes, including improved reading and comprehension skills, enhanced critical thinking and analytical skills, increased knowledge of current events and civic engagement, a better understanding of media literacy and bias, and development of essential skills in research, writing, and communication.

Everything the NIE does is funded through sponsorships and community and individual donations.

Fix has big plans for the program but needs funding to accomplish those plans.

“I’m trying to get back on track with funding, to gather up enough funding to be able to introduce new programs,” she said.

One program Fix would like to bring back is the Kid Scoop page, a section of the paper with games, puzzles and other educational material.

Fix is also interested in reintroducing Kids Speak. In this weekly feature, Daily Press staffers visit local schools and ask students various questions about school, their families, or their lives in general.

Kids Speak was developed by Dorothy McKnight, who served as the Daily Press lifestyle editor for many years. McKnight would visit a different school each week and ask children questions. Their answers were later featured in the Daily Press. The feature ran for decades in the newspaper.

For example, a September 2007 edition of the Daily Press featured a Kids Speak, where McKnight asked six third-grade students to describe what it was like for kids who went to school 100 years ago.

“It was very hard. They had to go to the bathroom outside, and if you had to go bad, you had to run. It was like having a port-a-potty,” said Justin Goodchild.

Mai Roll said she thinks kids walked to school 100 years ago.

“Sometimes the children had to stay home from school to do chores and weren’t able to go. I think all of them walked to school,” she said.

Fix is also preparing to unveil a little free library at the Press, but she needs more books to open it to the public.

“I’ve got everything set up for it, I have everything right here, I just don’t have enough books,” Fix said.

Fix is more than capable of accomplishing her goals, but she’s asking the community to help reach those goals.

The community can help by donating good-condition books for the Little Free Library, donating spare change or even returnables such as cans to fund the current NIE program as well as helping fund new programs, and becoming a sponsor of the program.

Individuals or organizations interested in being a sponsor have the option of five different sponsorship levels; every bit helps.

Sponsors get different columns/ad spaces depending on the chosen level: ruby, bronze, silver, gold, and platinum.

Fix can be contacted at (906) 786-2021 ext. 131 or via email at afix@dailypress.net.

“I greatly appreciate the community’s support for the NIE program; I’ve seen first-hand its benefits, and I know how much it makes a difference for the schools, teachers, and students,” Fix said.