In an effort to make the Eureka County Star the best community newspaper, we have elicited the best of what our county has to offer. In that effort, last year we began a program to get a group of school 6th and 7th graders interested in becoming part of the news cycle. The program was a great success. We are more than excited that this year we have been invited back to Ms. Mello’s 7th grade class to continue the exciting program. Winnona Eversgerd, who will be soon stepping into the local editor’s shoes for The Star, and I visited the 2026-27 Little Ants on September 8. The class was full, fuller than what has been seen in our schools, with a total of 21 students. We distributed the newest edition of The Star to each student and explained to them of the program which asks them to consider writing stories for our paper. Moreover we told them of the creation of Our Little Ants. The name came after seeing our first class of 6th and 7th graders last year. Seeing how busy and inquisitive the kids were was such an inspiration—and overwhelming. Our Little Ants official name came about by remembering when I was the K-12 secretary for the Eureka County School District in the early 1980’s. It hit me then that all those kids were like little ants. Busy but in a way that was constructive and they were all working to get to the same place. Through the school days and year with pride of their school and community. Looking further into how ants work together I learned that ants are one of the most important of insects in our world. They are credited with keeping our earth strong and healthy.
Google reports: We need ants because they act as essential ecosystem engineers that enrich the soil, clean up organic waste, and support the wider food chain. If you put that into our kids, you get that they are our essentials. Essential to our world as they will become the future. So as the owner and editor of The Star I saw a great opportunity to have them be part of the paper. Learning and sharing about community—at the same time giving them a feeling of pride in seeing a story they may write, with their name in print, in their local newspaper. Truly a win-win for all concerned. The Star is not limiting our pages to just the 7th graders at the schools. We are open to seeing stories of and from all our students. WE want to see our community as they see it, from THEIR viewpoint.
WE ENCOURAGE PARENTS AND TEACHERS TO GUIDE OUR KIDS TO WRITE FOR THE EUREKA COUNTY STAR.
We are excited and looking forward again this year to putting each and every letter to Santa from the first and second graders in our Christmas edition. With the background Winnona has in teaching and counseling, the kids will be in great hands with each of their submissions. Each child is a blessing, each blessing is an opportunity. Feel free to send stories and pictures at this time to [email protected].
