The fifth annual New Voices Student Leadership Institute kicked off this year with a record number of states represented. Thirty-two students from 20 states joined SPLC staff members and special guest speakers to learn about the New Voices movement and how they could be leaders in their state’s efforts toward student press freedom.
During the free online program, students engaged in a wide range of activities meant to enhance their leadership and organizing skills and develop their role with the New Voices movement. They participated in workshops on op-ed writing and creating an effective advocacy strategy, and they had conversations with experts on press freedom. Among this year’s guest speakers were lifelong student rights activists Mary Beth Tinker and Cathy Kuhlmeier, staff from the Freedom of the Press Foundation, Jeremy Redmon from The Atlanta Journal-Constitution and several Institute alumni, who returned to inspire the new class of student leaders. Each guest emphasized the importance of student voices in this movement and beyond, and guided students on how to use their voice to pass legislation that protects their First Amendment rights.
After spending two weeks learning from SPLC team members, special guest speakers and one another, this new group of New Voices student leaders are ready to put their new skills into action in their states.
Jennie-Kate Hannis is one of these students. Hannis is a junior at Woodgrove High School in Virginia where she serves as an online editor on her school’s student newspaper, The Woodgrove Outlander. She shared her experiences at the Institute and what comes next in her advocacy work.
I was first introduced to the Student Press Law Center at the JEA/NSPA Journalism Conference in Boston during the fall of 2023. As a student journalist from Virginia, a state that does not protect student press freedom for high schoolers, I was immediately shocked at both my state’s lack of protection for school reporters and intrigued by SPLC’s dedication to spreading awareness about New Voices legislation. While my newspaper classmates and I have never been directly censored by our school, our principal regularly reads and reviews our print stories, sometimes expressing hesitancy about covering certain topics. Thus, self censorship is a common practice in our newsroom. After researching SPLC, I discovered the New Voices Student Leaders Institute and the work of other high school students to push for New Voices awareness in their states. Reading the biographies of previous participants made me feel inspired to apply the following spring.
Over the course of the two-week Institute, I had the chance to hear from a variety of inspiring students, advocates and journalists about the importance of New Voices laws, and learned to hone important speaking, writing and communication skills to aid in our advocacy. Two speakers I particularly enjoyed hearing were Addie Barlow and Katina Paron of New Voices New York. Paron aided Barlow, a student journalist herself, in editing and pitching her op-ed on student press freedom in New York, and successfully published it this spring in The Hechinger Report. I found their commitment to the New Voices cause and insightful comments on writing and pitching an op-ed incredibly impactful. Hearing another teen journalist speak on her op-ed experience made my own goals feel more achievable.
Communication was a major theme in many of the speeches and activities that took place during the Institute. Of course, journalism itself is all about effective communication. However, I noticed that much of the advice given to us all gave way to this theme — how to write a persuasive op-ed, how to connect with state coalition members, how to win over local legislators.
The greatest thing I learned throughout the six sessions was the ability to communicate with others in a way that could influence them to support New Voices — or any worthy cause.
– Jennie-Kate Hannis
I also found the efforts of my fellow student leaders to be very inspiring. Working alongside other students from similar states kept me engaged during the few hours we met online. I especially enjoyed hearing their plans for the future, such as proposing New Voices legislation in their states, hosting informational events and publishing their op-eds, as it gave me inspiration for my own advocacy goals.
I plan to continue writing and editing the op-ed draft I wrote during the first week of the Institute. Through my op-ed, I hope to make the lack of student press freedom in Virginia known to more than just the students it affects, as well as highlight the importance of high school journalists in covering local stories from an inside perspective. In the next few months, I plan to pitch my final piece to Virginia news outlets and possibly national ones as well.
As the New Voices Virginia coalition has been inactive for a few years now, I have made it a priority to reach out to student journalists in my state and build up support for New Voices once more. I have no immediate plans to present New Voices legislation into the Virginia state legislature, but I hope that as the coalition grows it will become a possibility.
Learn more about how you can take action to restore and protect student press freedom in your state.