● National Student Journalist of the Year Runner-Up ●
My Portfolio: Law, Ethics & News Literacy
You know the saying, "If I had a nickel for every time I had to fight to maintain my freedom of speech..."
Or something like that.
New Voices
At the end of my freshman year, my then-Spoke adviser Mrs. Hyatt told me to apply for the Student Press Law Center's New Voices Student Leaders Institute over the summer. "Why not?" I said. I am so glad I did.
That summer, I was accepted to the institute and spent a week learning about student press freedom rights, the First Amendment, and U.S. Supreme Court cases Tinker v. Des Moines and Hazelwood v. Kuhlmeier. That summer, I developed my passion for student press freedom rights and never looked back.
Now, I serve as the lead student ambassador for Pennsylvania's chapter of the Student Press Law Center's New Voices campaign. Through this grassroots effort, I have worked with dozens of state legislators, seen three bills of my own introduced in both the state House and Senate, and led a press conference at Pennsylvania's capitol building.
To the right, you can view the bill I helped introduce to the Pennsylvania State Senate in the 2023 legislative session. Entitled the Pennsylvania Student Journalism Protection Act, if enacted, Senate Bill 622 and House Bill 1309 would ensure that student journalists do not face prior review nor restraint and can report from and to their school communities without fear of repercussions.
Both bills now sit in their respective chamber's education committee. When I interviewed Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro (see more about that here), he told me that if the bill reaches his desk, he will happily sign it to support the students in his state. I hope to make Pennsylvania the 18th New Voices State.
In 2022, I and other Pennsylvania New Voices advocates met with our state senator, Carolyn Comitta (wearing a black blazer with a scarf). I explained to her why New Voices legislation is crucial — without the ability to report freely and fairly, student journalists cannot fulfill their duty of covering the news in their communities. I also told the senator about some of my experiences with attempted censorship. During this meeting, she expressed her support for our initiative and agreed to sponsor our bill in the Senate. Later, she posted these pictures to her social media accounts.
In 2022 and 2023, during the Pennsylvania School Press Association's state-wide student journalism competition, I spoke about the New Voices movement and told the audience of hundreds of student journalists why they should join the fight. Both years, students came up to me after my talk, told me about their stories with censorship and asked how they could get involved in the movement to fight for their First Amendment rights.
In 2022, I came to the convention with hundreds of postcards. I had one simple ask for the student journalists and their advisers: take one, fill it out and mail it to their representatives. This easy but effective grassroots lobbying strategy helped the movement get to where it is today — with two active bills in both chambers of the state's legislature.
This summer, I successfully organized and ran Pennsylvania's New Voices chapter's first-ever lobby day. Student journalists and their advisers from across the state headed up to the state capitol in Harrisburg to meet with legislators and convince them to support the bill. Here's what we accomplished that day:
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We met with a total of 71 legislators and talked to them about the Pennsylvania Student Journalism Protection Act.
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We garnered support from both sides of the aisle. Supporting the First Amendment and protecting the freedoms of speech and the press isn't a partisan effort!
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We spoke at the Capitol Media Center about the bill and why we support it. My speech was broadcast live to the public and legislators and their staffers were in attendance.
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We met with the Pennsylvania State Education Association and won over the teachers' union's support of our New Voices bill.
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We were introduced on the Senate floor and commended for our work dedicated to fighting for the future of American journalism and supporting student journalists.
If nothing else, my advocacy for the Pennsylvania Student Journalism Protection Act and lobbying efforts taught me so much about the U.S. government. I now know exactly how a bill is passed and how each step plays out in real life. My AP U.S. Government and Politics class taught me a lot on paper, but New Voices allowed me to throw my hat in the ring and learn with real-world examples. In addition to my journalism major in college, I plan to minor in legal studies to become a stronger political reporter.
Fighting Censorship in School
Every year, The Spoke creates a Senior Destinations Map to chronicle the post-high school plans of the members of the graduating class. Read more about what this map is, what it looks like and how I went about creating it last June here.
As I was creating the map, my principal came to me and told me that if The Spoke published the map this year — as the paper had done for the past more than 60 years — she would cut the paper's funding and The Spoke's faculty advisers' jobs would be at stake. She told me that by publishing the map — by reporting the news — I would be directly harming students and causing undue stress. She threatened me and tried to censor me.
But I knew my rights. She couldn't beat me that easily. When I got home that day, I made some phone calls. I spoke with the Student Press Law Center's pro-bono legal counsel which helped me create a game plan to fight this blatant censorship attempt. I spoke with numerous Spoke alumni who fought similar censorship battles, some of whom currently work as professional journalists and First Amendment lawyers. I hit the JEA "panic button" and was immediately put in contact with professionals who could offer help. I also spoke with the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE) which eventually drafted, circulated and sent the below letter to my principal and superintendent explaining how they would be violating the law if they did not let The Spoke publish the map.
"There can be no serious argument that the senior destinations map is obscene, libelous, or would cause a material and substantial disruption to the activities of Conestoga. Nonetheless, Conestoga and district officials appear to claim the map could cause such a disruption. This is, quite simply, preposterous."
- The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, Pennsylvania School Press Association, Journalism Education Association and Student Press Law Center
After FIRE, PSPA, JEA and the SPLC sent this letter to my principal, in the spirit of media transparency, The Spoke posted it on social media. Then, I met with my principal again. This time, she backed down. She finally understood that she couldn't come marching into my newsroom and threaten my rights. She attempted to violate (in no particular order) school policy, state law and the Constitution of the United States of America.
Throughout this process, I kept The Spoke's readership aware of the situation. Since I started advocating for New Voices legislation, I have learned that censors thrive in the shadows. So, I made my principal's censorship efforts front and center: if she was going to try to violate my rights, the world was going to know.
I posted both images to The Spoke's social media accounts. Within minutes, the paper not only had support from legal advisers but also from the student body and community at large.
In the end, I won. I got what I was fighting for: the ability to make my own editorial decisions about The Spoke's content without facing prior review or restraint. But it shouldn't have been as hard as it was. It shouldn't have taken a 17-year-old's efforts with lawyers to secure student press freedom rights in one high school. Students shouldn't be forced into positions where they have to balance fighting for their First Amendment rights with being a kid. That's why we need New Voices legislation — and why we need it now.
"You know I support you," my mom always tells me. "Just don't get yourself expelled."
Teaching Press Freedom
I make sure that The Spoke's staff reporters know their rights inside and out. At least once a year, I review the important information with the reporters: what they can report, when they can report, where they can report, what the Tinker Standard means, what our school media policy says, what the First Amendment says and what to do if someone violates their First Amendment rights. This was one of my presentations.
Within The Spoke, I have made it my mission to teach the next generation of student journalists to report with integrity and not back down even when facing backlash from people in positions of power. It's hard, but the only way to ensure a free and impartial news media is to train our student journalists in independent reporting from the get-go.
Outside of The Spoke, I help student journalists across the country learn about and fight for their rights, as well. On Student Press Freedom Day last year, I hosted a webinar with the National Coalition Against Censorship at which I told my stories of facing and fighting censorship and urged students to fight back against their school district officials if and when they experience the same issues.
I told the webinar attendees just how important it is for student journalists to see New Voices legislation pass in all 50 states. After the webinar, I had many students — and even a few advisers — reach out to me for advice. Standing up to a principal or boss is incredibly daunting, but when I can convince even one person to fight back, knowing they have my support as well as that of numerous organizations' pro-bono legal counsel, I feel an overwhelming sense of pride. Fighting censorship only works if we all come together for the same goal.
