HURON — Information is good to have in the Information Age and News-2-You is good at getting information to students with special needs. The Huron company is the recipient of its fifth Golden 30 Award. News-2-You has had a year of transition, moving into a new 5,600-square-foot headquarters at 909 University Drive S., built by Tusing Builders Ltd., of Monroeville. http://cdn-akm.vmixcore.com/core-flash/UnifiedVideoPlayer/UnifiedVideoPlayer.swf?player_id=c7271b6c93404728b4c1544704a5af1e “We love it, we absolutely love it,” founder and company President Jacquie Clark said. “I think everyone just thoroughly enjoys it. “The biggest problem is we just have to get settled in here. We keep waiting for a breather.” The company sticks with its roots. News-2-You is a weekly newspaper that teachers can download and use in the classroom. The paper’s words and concepts are illustrated with SymbolStix, created by the staff of News-2-You. Its topics come from news headlines and current events so students can relate to the world around them and discuss those items with parents and adults. Clark’s husband, David, is the chief writer for the company. “Sales are way up this year,” Clark said. “I think it’s one of those things that teachers can buy and really use and it’s inexpensive compared to the other materials that are out there.” The paper circulates in school districts around the country, Canada and Europe. In her office, Clark keeps a wall-mounted television tuned to television news services. Now, News-2-You offers the Unique Learning System, “which is selling significantly for the second year that it is out,” Clark said. The Unique Learning System currently is the only complete curriculum for special education that is based on standards of learning that teachers use and students strive to meet. It is available for grades three to five, grades six to nine and high school, with another transitional unit coming soon for adults ages 18 to 22. Each unit has enough information for teachers to create monthly lessons. Topics so far have ranged from America’s National Parks, to go along with Ken Burns’ documentary about the park system, to the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. “We try to marry as much as we can the topics with the curriculum with the topics we use in the newspaper,” Clark said. “They do compliment each other very nicely and you never have enough reading material in a classroom.” News-2-You also publishes SymbolStix, a library of 12,000 images in English, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Dutch, German and Mexican Spanish. Versions for French and Italian languages are in the works. SymbolStix subscribers can download the images to create their own worksheets with pictures to illustrate words and ideas. “Because we have the newspaper, we are constantly drawing new symbols to keep up with the news,” Clark said.
