I’M SITTING HERE IN MY CLASSROOM WITH MY JOURNALISM STUDENTS. It’s 6:15 p.m. in the evening on a Tuesday. We have gathered here tonight to do what we generically call Late Nights. These are the nights where we do our desktop publishing for the school paper, The Paw.

There simply isn’t enough class time between issues to get the paper done. Desktop publishing requires involvement with a variety of programs. It takes 10 minutes just to get the programs open. The constraints of the 58-minute period leave us frustrated. We just get everything coordinated with the keyboards clacking and suddenly it’s time to shut it all down and leave by the bell. Considering other class activities, students get at best a half hour of publishing time.

When we meet in the evening, we stay for two to three hours. The pace is casual. There are no bells, no hall passes necessary, friends can come visit, students can work on their section of the paper for an extended time while we play music and order pizza. Jeff over at Pacifica has been supplying my class with all the free pizza we can eat for almost 30 years now.

Journalism class is a lot of work. It requires overtime, just like band, sports, yearbook and a batch of other courses. Journalism, because it pretty much involves constant writing, attracts a small, special group of students. I have seen the desire to write for pleasure diminish among students over my many years here.

Students who join and stay with journalism discover the unique freedom the class allows — students get to select their own stories to research. They have the freedom to study any topic that interests them and earn grade credit for the effort. For students who tire of the constant string of analytic essays on novels, journalism is the class for them.

By the way, we are currently recruiting for next year’s staff. Recently we had an elective fair at the school. We didn’t participate. When we have participated in enrollment campaigns in the past, we have got recruits who didn’t realize the rigor involved, came unprepared and got their GPAs tarnished in the process. Instead, we strive for word of mouth and individual teacher recommendations. If your child is a budding creative writer adrift and ambivalent in course selections for next year, send them to see me ASAP.

Next year should be fun. It will be my final year before retirement and I intend to pull out all the stops. If you ever wanted your kid in my class, it’s last call.

I’m able to sit here and type my column while my students work because I’m out of the loop in the production cycle at this point. I’m at the helm watching them type, but mostly I just unlock the door, order pizza and answer questions.

This is a student-centered newspaper and we are on issue number four. They’ve learned the process and don’t need my constant coaching any more. Some students have been in journalism for years. I just need to stay out of their way.

I enjoy sitting here watching them type, seeing the paper take shape, listening to them talk. Their conversations are a mixture of on-task news, format-related advice and a healthy dose of their other important social issues of the day. There is a lot of laughing.

A wave of melancholic nostalgia washed over me just now as I sat here realizing how close I am to the end of my career. I will soon be saying goodbye to this beehive of youthful social interaction. What will those quiet nights be like for me? Will they be peaceful and relaxing, or will the silence roar in my ear?

Working in print news may seem old fashioned. Each year enrollment diminishes. Am I preparing them for a career in a dying industry? I hope not, but there will be fewer jobs in print media. That doesn’t bother me. It’s unfortunate, but the real benefit of this class isn’t the medium, it’s the message, or should I say messages.

Journalism teaches students to write well.

I get heat each year from administration because enrollment for journalism is always barely acceptable. If we get 18 to 20 that’s a good group for me, but it causes grumbles from the office. Of course, administrators want all classes packed to capacity at 33. Unfortunately for them, writing isn’t that appealing to most. That is why I have hope that journalism will survive as a class after I leave. Appealing or not, writing is our current emphasis. We are revising English classes next year to incorporate more writing.

No other class on campus is as purely about writing as journalism. To collapse the program because of a lack of interest in writing, while at the same time spending thousands on new textbooks to reinvigorate writing across the curriculum, seems like the snake eating its tail. It would be like throwing your water out to lighten your load before crossing the desert.

I was hired to teach in Benicia 30 years ago because of my journalism skills. It was of utmost interest to officials at the time to have a student newspaper. It would be sadly ironic if today’s school officials decided to end the newspaper program about the same time as I retire.

Gotta go. Pizza is here.

Steve Gibbs teaches at Benicia High School and has written a column for The Herald for 25 years.