The Big Sandy Mountaineer -

Marla Ray came out of retirement to teach English at Big Sandy High School. By all accounts, she is doing a great job teaching English. We've published several poems the students have written, so I asked her to consider teaching her students to write articles.

I asked Marla to tell me a little about what her Junior class is working on. Marla wrote, "The Junior English class has been learning how to create an accurate resume, write good letters of application for job interviews or college scholarships, as well as letters to the Editor, thank you notes, and letters of condolence – all life skills. I recently asked them to choose from a variety of topics in which they are involved personally, either in school or in the community, and then write an article for our local newspaper. These articles have been submitted to the Mountaineer and will be appearing in upcoming editions. Lorrie Merrill has editing privilege, but the articles will be mainly what the students each wrote. I hope you will enjoy their candid efforts, and I thank Mrs. Merrill for this opportunity for my students' work to be published. During the fourth quarter of school, these same students will be creating their own newspaper, the Rouser.”