The Student Press Law Center (SPLC) dubbed 2019 “Year of the Student Journalist,” and after three days in a tranquil suburb of our nation’s capital with fellow advocates from around the country, the rationale for the credo has never been more clear for members of our Pennsylvania New Voices team.
Joining delegates from Arkansas, Hawaii, Michigan, Nebraska, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Virginia, and Texas, five representatives from Pennsylvania’s New Voices movement traveled to the William F. Bolger Center in Potomac, Maryland, for an intensive training workshop Oct. 11-13.
Freedom Area High School adviser, Aaron Fitzpatrick, and two of his Editors-in-Chief, Cade and Cole Skuse, joined Saegertown High School adviser, Stacey Hetrick, and her husband, Bill, for the intensive workshop, where delegates shared their stories and learned from SPLC representatives about the legislative process, coalition building, messaging, and strategy.
Amid the strategic planning, delegates shared personal experiences that spanned the spectrum of emotion; however, they all yield one common thread: Student voices deserve to be heard. Whether these voices are silenced at the hands of administrative censorship or – even more likely – self-censorship, when student voices go unheard, student stories go untold, and, to quote the slogan that appears on the masthead of The Washington Post, “Democracy dies in darkness.”
Does any of this sound a little too familiar? Which stories would you write if you believed you could do so without ramifications? Help us help you tell your stories by supporting New Voices PA.
One way you can help is by taking our survey and telling us your story. Whether you’re a student or an adviser, you deserve to be heard, and your story matters.
