COLUMN: First-graders visit the Express

     We had some special guests visit the Monticello Express two weeks ago. The Class of 2030, current first-graders if my math is correct, stopped in for a tour of the Express.

     First-graders are the best. I can see why my daughter, Allison, enjoys teaching that grade level.

     Right off the bat one of their teachers said she had a couple of students that were looking forward to seeing me. It took just a few seconds to pick out the ones I knew and I did my best at getting a few to blush.

     The class divided into three sections and we allowed about 20 minutes per tour, which really wasn’t enough time. These kids got to be there on a day that no other groups have since I started working here, production day.

     Normally we put the paper together on Mondays but because of Memorial Day deadlines, that day was a Friday and I didn’t look far enough ahead when we scheduled. The tours were early enough in the day so it all worked out.

     I’d like to share a few highlights from the tours. In the first group, I explained about selling ads and why. I used the Cone Shoppe as an example, a place that all first graders would be familiar with.

     For my example I used a 50-cent coupon off an ice cream cone. My salesperson would go in to the Cone Shoppe and suggest that is what they could put into their weekly ad. I thought that was pretty cut and dried for the kids to understand.

     A young girl politely raised her hand and stated: “so you trick them.” That drew a chuckle out of all of us. And to save face I came back with something about entering into a business relationship with our advertisers. I don’t think she bought it.

     The first group also got to see us printing two banners for Almost Famous Dance and Gymnastics Studio. Several students mentioned they were currently enrolled in dance.

     Groups two and three only got to see the finished product but I got equal responses from AFD members.

     We also had a minor celebrity in our first group. I was showing the kids a few items we produce and one of them was our Monticello Guidebook. On the cover was Sutton Smith, who happened to be in group one.

     When I started to talk about the guidebook, Sutton’s classmates all got excited about it and then I discovered he was in the group. He was very cool about the whole thing.

     Later on in the tour I was showing them decals that I had made earlier in the week. I was working on 200 ATV decals for Kromminga Motors. Which brought us back to Sutton again and Grandpa Greg. Again, Sutton played it pretty cool.

     Our life-sized cutout of Carrie Underwood drew a few oohs and aahs as well. And I was asked about a Hawkeye poster I had hanging out back from all three groups. It’s funny what kids pick up on.

     Out back we store a lot of stuff. Paper, envelopes, boxes, old equipment, etc. Each group happened to see a box decorated like a Christmas gift. We use it for drawing tickets. Someone from each group wanted to know why we had a wrapped Christmas package sitting on a shelf.

     Hopefully the Class of 2030 enjoyed their visit and learned a little something about the newspaper and the diversity of our business in general. I’ll also need to provide treats next time as that was the second most asked question. I’ll do better next time!