During the recent rancorous election cycle, two Edina middle school students launched a free online newspaper to give their peers another choice for news.
The newspaper, called the Philosopher's Papers, includes current news, a society section and a daily newsletter.
"We started out as a book debate," said Aditi Jha, an 11-year-old sixth-grader at Valley View Middle School, "and it's crazy how that expanded to this newspaper."
In late September, Jha, classmate Patricio Loria-Procel, and two other classmates wanted to expand on a project they were assigned in their reading class. Jha created a Google Hangouts chat so the group could discuss the project.
"Eventually, that conversation morphed into philosophy, and that philosophy turned into the desire to share it with all of our friends, and the desire to share all the epiphanies that kept entering our minds," said Jha. "Patricio got the idea for a book of philosophy, but I suggested we should turn it into a newspaper."
The other two classmates dropped out due to the increasing time commitment and other challenges. Jha, and Loria-Procel, 12, proceeded with the project — "two passionate writers determined on the betterment of our community," Jha said.
The goal for the newspaper, she said, "is to educate society on current affairs and what matters the most to our community. Since kids would feel more inclined to read material written by people their age, this is also an attempt to further educate and interest teens about modern happenings and topics in the world around us."
Up-to-the-minute news summaries have included the makeup of President-elect Joe Biden's COVID-19 task force, Georgia's upcoming runoff for two Senate seats, and updates on the 2020 U.S. Census.
