About The Partnership
As part of Iraq’s first high school newsletter initiative, students from St. Edward High School and Baghdad’s Mansour High School for Boys have partnered in a program, developed and funded by the Provincial Reconstruction Team-Baghdad (PRT-B), to introduce a democratic press in Iraq. The PRT-B is staffed by U.S. Department of State personnel charged with building civil capacity in Iraq.
The editorial staff of the Edsman, St. Edward’s student newspaper, and its faculty advisor communicate several times per week via the Internet with their counterparts at Mansour High School to mentor and coach them in the production of their first newsletter.
The program’s objectives include:
- Encouraging friendship and appreciation of each other’s culture;
- Instilling an early love of journalism and discernment of what entails balanced reporting;
- Training faculty and teachers to produce quality journalism;
- Promoting collegiality through peer-to-peer collaborations;
- Developing marketing and sales skills by selling ad space thus encouraging self-reliance.