What can I say about the North Philly Metropolis other than that its the best Philadelphia teen newspaper ever and I’m just not saying that because I work with it…maybe a little.  The main objective of the NPM is to convence teenagers that they do matter in todays world and that what is happening in the world  does effect them. With the NPM, teenagers are able to voice their voices and talents, touching on issues that many newspapers would be afraid to approach.

The North Philly Metropolis has been around for nearly 6years now, releasing its world premier issue in 2003 from the St. E’s afterschool program. There are very few original copies of the first issue and only a few of the original staff have them. It wasn’t until the second issue that teens started taking editorial positions within the paper. I remember it being the last week of summer camp and the former editor-in-chief, Mr. Ben Harris, said that he would be there the following week working on the paper if anyone wanted to help. I kind of knew that no one was going to come and I didn’t want to leave Mr. Ben hanging, so I went.

 

To this day I shutter to think what my life or what the paper would be if I did not go that following week. That is how my career with the paper actually started off. Mr. Ben treated me as an equal and he showed me how the paper was laid out, what Photoshop was, etc. Now that I think of it that’s pretty much how our friendship developed. The NPM brings people together.

Anyway, the Metropolis did have its troubles, but what newspaper doesn’t.  When Mr. Ben left to pursue his field in photography there was no one to lead the NPM. Almost all of the original staff were either not attending the after school program or had gone on to bigger and better things. So we had our first ever hiatus. However, I was still attending the program and from being with Mr. Ben there was newspaper knowledge held within my brain.

 Eventually after the newspaper came off from its short hiatus, Ms. Stephanee Renee came aboard and became the new editor-in-chief. As I am, I was a little skeptical. The fact that she was a woman editor-in-chief (I was young) shocked me too. Though myself and Ms. Steph hit it off pretty well, she was the one who gave me my Managing Editor title. She also was the reason that we began getting advertisements. Ms. Steph is also the reason why I can’t lie to her about certain things pertaning to who I did and didn’t like.

Ms. Steph unfortunately left, leaving the reigns to be taken over by Mr. Steve Bozzone. Things really took off when Mr. Steve took over. More people were hearing about us, our staff was returning, somehow we were getting paid, and I was made editor-in-chief. I even had a office with this guy, along with a few others we ruled. Like Mr. Ben, working with Mr. Steve on the paper our friendship really developed more.

Presently I am now editor emeritus of the North Philly Metropolis. Mr. Steve has since left and is now working at the wonderful Hopeworks after-school program in Camdan, New Jersey. I am now working on gathering and forming a new team for the Metropolis. Things for the NPM will heat up in the fall as we will be sending letters to more schools, other afterschool programs, and will attempt to cover as much news as possible. Heck we might even have shirts. I’ll be making some deliveries with my bike, so if you see me don’t hesitate to ask for an issue.

 The newspaper is still being produced, you can check out our past issues at www.northphillyteens.com and visit our blog www.northphillyteens.com/blog for updates.

 Click on the link to view the very first copy of the North Philly Teens Magazine. We had a couple of covers, though this is one of them. This was what the NPM looked liked before it became an actual newspaper. The editors of this baby were Mr. Jeff Weisner and Mr. Ben Harris. Basically the teens covered what they wanted to and what seemed important, just like the newspaper. However, we were still learning. This was also the birth of “Peak Johnson.”