Five young writers, photographers and videographers begin coverage today of the Last Chance Stampede and Fair.

Michele Bayuk, 16, will be a junior this fall at Capital High School. She brings excitement about photography and videography as well as a strong writing background, making her a well-rounded journalist able to cover all aspects of the Independent Record’s new interactive Web site for complete fair coverage. Last year, Bayuk won first place in a young writer’s contest.

Janyssa Overturf, 17, will be a senior at Jefferson High School this fall. She worked for the school newspaper and took on jobs of writing, editing, design and photography. Overturf said she is looking forward to writing stories about the people behind the scenes at the fair.

Christina Jardon, 18, recently earned a high school diploma from being home-schooled. She has written two short stories and completed the National Novel Writing Month challenge, writing a 50,000-word novel in 30 days.

Jardon is interested in the animals at the fair and brings with her a long list of story ideas readers are likely to find of interest.

Emily Moore, 19, graduated from Capital High last year and attends Baylor University in Waco, Texas, studying film. She worked as a writer and photographer for a Baylor University publication and this fall will be the editor.

Home for the summer, Moore enjoys the large group of diverse people the fair offers and is looking forward to capturing experiences of fairgoers through words, photos and videos.

For the third year, Clay Springmeyer, 17, a senior this fall at Helena High School, returns to the staff. He enjoyed the experience so immensely he’s eager to get to work bringing readers more complete coverage than ever before.

Springmeyer said he’s not surprised of the new way the newspaper will cover the fair, because it opens the door for more instantaneous news coverage.

The Stampede Standard staff will work through the week thoroughly documenting this year’s fair. To view their work, as well as the full schedule of events and interesting things to see throughout each day, go to helenair.com and click on the “Stampede Standard” graphic at the top of the home page.

This year’s Last Chance Stampede and Fair is Wednesday through Sunday at the Lewis and Clark County Fairgrounds.

Stampede Standard

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