St. Bernard’s School third and fourth graders pose in front of the printing press during a tour of the Adirondack Daily Enterprise and Lake Placid News office building in Saranac Lake on Nov. 28. In the back on the left is Family Support Coordinator Jennifer Clark, and on the right is fourth-grade teacher Lauren Lazarus. (News photo — Andy Flynn)

SARANAC LAKE — A day before third and fourth graders from St. Bernard’s School toured the Adirondack Daily Enterprise and Lake Placid News offices at 54 Broadway on Tuesday, Nov. 28, Press Foreman Rick Burman predicted that the highlight of the trip would be the printing presses running.

He made sure of it, scheduling the Lake Placid Holiday Village Stroll tab to print once the students made their way to the pressroom in the back of the building.

And he was right.

Third-grade teacher Rebecca Eagle, fourth-grade teacher Lauren Lazarus and Family Support Coordinator Jennifer Clark walked about 25 students from the school on River Street to the newspaper office in time for their 10:45 a.m. appointment. They were met in the front of the building by Editor/Publisher Andy Flynn and Enterprise Managing Editor Elizabeth Izzo, who led the tour.

In the front office, where the accounting, circulation and sales departments are located, students were given the morning’s issue of the Enterprise and told about advertising and how it helps pay the bills. Then they moved back to the newsroom, where Izzo explained news reporting, editing and layout, and Flynn showed students the front page of the Lake Placid News — holding the print version in his right hand and a computer monitor showing the Adobe InDesign layout in his left hand. After the stories and photos are filed and pages are laid out, Izzo and Flynn explained, metal plates are made to put on the printing press. Students were shown a plate and headed back to the pressroom.

Adirondack Daily Enterprise and Lake Placid News Editor/Publisher Andy Flynn shows St. Bernard’s School third and fourth graders the front page of the latest Lake Placid News in the newsroom during a tour of the office building in Saranac Lake on Nov. 28, 2023. (News photo — Elizabeth Izzo)

Then the show began.

Burman and pressmen Jesse Phelan and Jeremy McCasland began printing the Lake Placid Holiday Village Stroll, making adjustments on the color press every five minutes or so to get everything lined up correctly. Students were surrounded by towers of large paper rolls stacked on top of each other while they watched the press run and asked Phelan a lot of questions. He said it was one of the best school groups to tour the pressroom, mainly since they asked a lot of thoughtful questions.

While media has permission to use photos of the students, some of the families have requested that the names of their children not be printed in the newspaper for security reasons; therefore, they are not listed here.

As they were leaving the pressroom, the fourth-grade teacher, Ms. Lazarus, said this field trip may spark interest in re-starting the school’s newspaper. Flynn said if they do, he’d be happy to visit the newspaper club at the school and give them some guidance. Editors at the Adirondack Daily Enterprise and Lake Placid News — printed by the Adirondack Publishing Co. and owned by Ogden Newspapers — encourage local schools to create newspaper clubs and provide support for them once they are established.

The tour was part of Adirondack Publishing’s Next Generation Newsroom program, which was launched in September to create educational pathways for students in the Tri-Lakes Region to become professional journalists. The program includes outreach, recruitment and training for students to gain experience that will launch their journalism careers. Teachers can learn more about the Next Generation Newsroom initiative by visiting the Lake Placid News website at https://tinyurl.com/5epehswy or emailing Andy Flynn at aflynn@lakeplacidnews.com.

Adirondack Daily Enterprise Managing Editor Elizabeth Izzo gives a tour of the Enterprise and Lake Placid News newsroom for St. Bernard’s School third and fourth graders on Nov. 28. (News photo — Andy Flynn)

Download the Next Generation Newsroom teacher resource guide: FLYER_NextGen_WEB

From left, pressmen Jeremy McCasland and Jesse Phelan and Press Foreman Rick Burman make adjustments to the printing press while St. Bernard’s School third and fourth graders tour the Adirondack Daily Enterprise and Lake Placid News office building in Saranac Lake on Nov. 28. (News photo — Andy Flynn)

Press Foreman Rick Burman makes adjustments to the printing press while St. Bernard’s School third and fourth graders tour the Adirondack Daily Enterprise and Lake Placid News office building in Saranac Lake on Nov. 28. (News photo — Andy Flynn)

Pressman Jesse Phelan answers questions from St. Bernard’s School third and fourth graders during a tour of the Adirondack Daily Enterprise and Lake Placid News office building in Saranac Lake on Nov. 28. (News photo — Andy Flynn)

St. Bernard’s School third and fourth graders watch the printing presses run during a tour of the Adirondack Daily Enterprise and Lake Placid News office building in Saranac Lake on Nov. 28. (News photo — Andy Flynn)