More than seven years ago I had a vision of what I wanted the Covington-Maple Valley Reporter — we didn’t plan to cover Black Diamond right away — to be as a newspaper.

I wanted it to be a place where readers could find stories they wouldn’t see anywhere else in the region. And I believed a community journalist should write stories about our readers, their friends, their neighbors, their kids and things which impacted their wallet. Since we started this paper in September 2005 that vision has not changed.

There were times this vision has been evident in the paper but I think what we offer now fulfills that ideal generally. I did realize over the weekend, however, that what I believe our mission is as a community newspaper has expanded.

Now, between you and me, the lessons I’ve learned about what our newspaper’s role in the communities we cover have come from Dennis Box. But, don’t tell him I said that, he may start telling people he’s the likable one and some other nonsense about being a deity. Trust me, you don’t want to go down that path.

Still, one of the most important things we do here never leads to a story or photographs for the paper. Instead, it’s about community goodwill. That’s when we host Cub Scout groups who need to take a tour of some kind of media business. Everything I know about hosting this kind of group and making it engaging as well as effective I learned from Dennis. Again, don’t tell him that, it will only cause more trouble than it’s worth.

As a business in this community, however, it’s important for us to give back. Hosting a Cub Scout Den every few months is part of that role. On the surface, it may seem like the newspaper gains nothing from it, but that’s not the point of service. And it turns out our local Scouts sometimes have hard time finding a media business — they can choose from newspapers, radio or TV stations, from what I understand — to host them or that makes sense logistically. We’re right here in downtown Covington and we love teaching children about what we do. It’s a part of being a contributing member of the community we serve.

Another element of service involves hosting job shadow students from Tahoma, Kentwood and Kentlake. I love doing this. It took me four years to figure out how to do it right. What I like to do is bring students in on Tuesdays when we lay out the paper so they can see the process. I also ask them to help come up with headline ideas — it’s good for teens to see what happens when I get stuck and how I get unstuck — or pick a photo for the front page or proofread the pages when we’re done with layout. The other approach is to set up a job shadow experience so a student can come with me to cover sports. I like to take kids to football games or the district volleyball tournament. I’ll hand them my camera or notepad and ask them to help me out. It gives them a sense of what it really takes to multitask when covering an event.

In the past few months I’ve hosted two special needs students, one from Tahoma in December and more recently a teen from Kentwood. Both times the adults who arranged the job shadow experience thanked me profusely for helping them out because it was hard to find someone who would host these students.

This infuriates me. If special needs students are capable of — and therefore expected — to complete a job shadowing experience then businesses in the community should make it happen when asked. We have high expectations for the schools our students attend, whether the kids are in all kinds of rigorous courses or struggling in core classes or doing the best they can in the Adapted Services Center, so we should hold ourselves as leaders in the community to the same standards.

Anyone who doesn’t find a way to host job shadow students, regardless of the kid, is missing out. The young woman we hosted from Kentwood High was awesome. She had plenty of questions, she was ready to offer suggestions and help pick out photos. She was attentive when we explained how we did things and asked what she would need to do to get a job with this company. Katherine and I thoroughly enjoyed it. In fact, it wouldn’t have happened had Katherine not filled in for me at the Job Shadow Expo at Kentwood a few weeks ago. She connected with a staff member from the school who in turn called me to set up the job shadow experience. I’d do it again in a heartbeat.

After thinking about this job shadow hosting experience and the most recent group of Cub Scouts I hosted from Maple Valley, I realized that what we do as community journalists goes way beyond that vision I’ve long held for this newspaper. And I believe we’re all better off for it. In fact, I get much more out of giving back to the communities I live and work in than anything else I do in this job.

So, if you want Katherine or I to come give a presentation at your school about journalism, or want to bring your Cub Scouts for a tour of the office or need a business to complete a job shadow experience or someone to come help judge at the school science fair or your child wants to write for the newspaper, just as a few examples, get in touch with me. I will find a way to make it happen. What we do here is about community. Period.