There’s a new paper in town, and it’s not the one you’re holding. It’s The People’s Paper, a newspaper created by three 8th graders: Ryan Shapiro, Maceo Cipriano, and Nick Matra.

Nick Matra said that originally, they would try to sell the newspaper outside of school.

The paper is not an official BMS club and meets when it’s convenient for the creators who have busy schedules.

“We really meet any day, but we mostly meet on Tuesdays and Thursdays. But since it has interfered with other people’s schedules, we might change it to Wednesdays and Fridays, or whichever days work best for most of our writers,” Nick explained.

The group formed around the beginning of September in 2022, since Ursus hadn’t started yet. Ryan asked his friends to start their our own newspaper, and with that thought in mind, the three 8th graders formed a newspaper outside of school.

Nick Matra decided that since the group that formed was smaller in comparison to the staff of Ursus, it would be easier to produce a paper.

The group printed their first issue around November. “It was a heavy workload to have a deadline with at least three articles written per person, so we are trying to get more staff. We’ve done most of our work with 8th graders we know, but we are trying to expand for more grades.”

As for planning to continue this into high school, Nick replied, “Yes, that is what we hopefully can manage.”

The People’s Paper works differently than Urusus in that teachers don’t govern the working environment. There is no formal office specified for the People’s Paper yet, but, as Nick pointed out, “We usually just need a room full of computers to get our work done. It is tons of work for layout, though, so we have to do most of the work on our own time.”

The main struggle for The People’s Paper has been getting staff members to join in.

“Gaining people has been tough since there are only a handful of students who know about us.” The group is working to expand their readership, to sell more papers and to create more positive effects for the group.

So where does the name The People’s Paper originate?

The first People’s Paper meeting had three or four writers, and the first goal was to brainstorm a name. “The main thought we had was that the paper was read by the people, and written by the people as well,” Nick said

Now the three organizers have a new primary goal: to have a ‘voice’. in the community.

According to Nick, “The people can put some opinions into the paper, and have the opportunity to write about what they enjoy. Hopefully, people can see that in the second issue, since the people writing are passionate about it.”