On Thursday, March 19, 15 members of The Smoke Signal staff piled into a school bus to visit the office of the Bergen Record, a local newspaper.

Joe Dziublenski, the Production Copy Editor, welcomed us as we walked in, speaking about what goes into a newspaper on a daily basis. He was our tour guide for the day, showing us around the first floor of the office. In addition, he introduced us to each of the staff members we met throughout the day.

The first person we met was Andrew Wyrich, a reporter that writes local news about the Pascack Valley area. Wyrich spoke about news reporting and writing, the techniques he uses to write a story, meeting deadlines, and some background about himself and how he got into journalism.

Renee Ernst discussed the online media aspect of reporting. As the Social Media Editor, she mainly deals with the online newspaper. She asked for our opinions on how to draw in a younger audience and how she can get The Record’s online presence to reach teens.

Next, we were able to sit in on the morning news meeting. Editors of the different sections of the paper brought an agenda to discuss what would be running in the paper the following day.

Darren Cooper, the sports columnist who covers local sports— and also writes for the Varsity Aces blog— was the next staff member we met. He spoke to us about sports reporting and writing, and even talked about Pascack Valley’s athletics and teams in neighboring towns.

Finally, staff photographer Marko Georgiev showed us a montage of some of the pictures he has taken during his career, and spoke about the different places he has been to, camera in hand. Georgiev gave tips to photographers and talked about his favorite situations in which to take pictures.

The Smoke Signal staff would like to thank these members of The Record’s staff for accommodating us and giving us some more insight on professional journalism.