Mr. Bolduc going for that cool, tough, and smart guy pose
Mr. Bolduc is a finely dressed man who always greets his class with a “good morning” in his gentle, but sharp voice, right before he hands out press passes to his journalism students so they can go out and get information for their stories.
He didn't hand out any press passes last year. Because last year, there were no journalism students to get information for stories.
In fact, a real journalistic publication hasn’t existed at Churchland High School for about ten years - when the last CHS newspaper was published.
This year, when Mr. Bolduc was told he would be able to open up a journalism class, he jumped at the chance to do it - to bring back journalism, the newsroom, and finally bring back the excitement of the school newspaper to Churchland High School.
“I was told I could teach journalism my third year, but we needed more core classes.”
So he waited patiently for years until the opportunity finally arose.
“Journalism has always been something I’ve been interested in,” he says, as he looks at the class to make sure everyone is doing what they’re supposed to be doing.
Before he became a teacher at Churchland High School, Mr. Bolduc was a golf professional at his local golf club.
“Very long hours and very low pay, but I loved it,” he says.
Once this man with the goatee got out of the golf business, he worked as a real estate agent for a few years, and eventually got out when “the economy got bad.” So he relied on his degree from ODU and became a teacher.
While at ODU, he wrote for the school’s newspaper, The Mace and Crown.
“I did mostly features, editorials, event reviews, and those type of things.”
This year Mr. Bolduc has brought journalism back to Churchland High School, and is working on creating a journalism club where students can print a school newspaper.
The costs of printing are pretty high, so the paper would probably need ad revenue to help pay for the cost of printing.
“I would hate for students to have to pay for the school newspaper.”
Mr. Bolduc's idea is to have the newspaper on racks around the school where a student could freely pick one up and start reading.
“I feel like the student newspaper will help bring more culture to the school. What I mean is, when we can get everybody excited about the school, that’s going to make a difference in getting students more involved in sports, activities, music programs. If we could get the newspaper to help make us proud to be Truckers, that’s my goal,” Mr. Bolduc says, as he gets up to go teach the class.
Photo: Hunter Mynes