Last week, I had the opportunity to spend some time with future journalists in Heather Murphy’s seventh period newspaper writing class at Hartselle Intermediate School.

I had a blast getting a chance to talk with the students about journalism and talking about what makes news.

For a moment, I felt like I was back in journalism class in college. However, this time the roles were reversed with me being the guest teacher and the class being where I was.

I probably should have told them, like journalists did when I was in college, to get out of it, but I still enjoy my job on a daily basis.

I do apologize to all of the Alabama fans in Mrs. Murphy’s class that endured me showing front pages of state newspapers on the morning after the Iron Bowl. (And Dr. Wilson, I did refrain from showing the front pages of the Huntsville Times, Birmingham News and the Mobile Press-Register, as their headlines may not have been appropriate for the classroom. If you don’t know what they did, just give me a call and I’ll tell you what those headlines were.)

I hope the students were able to glean something from the class that day, but I do know we have some talented, intelligent kids that are coming up in the school system. It’s always fun to get to interact with them.

If nothing else, I hope that they learned a little bit about what is news and maybe how to write a good lead sentence.

Thanks for the opportunity Mrs. Murphy and good luck to all of the students.

Brent Maze is the managing editor of the Hartselle Enquirer.