Twenty-five high school students from 15 states learned how to lead their states’ fights for student press freedom as part of the Student Press Law Center’s seventh annual New Voices Student Leaders Institute this summer. Learn more about what they learned here.
The institute’s message was clear: Student voices can pass the New Voices laws needed to protect students’ First Amendment rights. Now, the new leaders are ready to put their strategies and new skills into action to do just that.
Myesha Phukan, a 2023 institute alumna and now an SPLC advocacy intern, helped co-facilitate this year’s institute. She shares her experiences working with students who are following in her advocacy footsteps.
Most students only participate in the New Voices Student Leaders Institute once. I was lucky enough to experience it twice: first as a student journalist looking for support after facing censorship, and now from the other side, as an advocacy intern with the Student Press Law Center.
When I first attended NVSLI as a rising junior in high school, I was still trying to make sense of my own censorship experience and learn what censorship meant beyond my newsroom. I hadn’t yet grasped the severity of the issue, nor how many student journalists across the country were facing their own versions of my struggle. Being surrounded by students who understood the same feelings I was having reframed my own experience. The realization that censorship was a much larger issue than just what happened to my publication was empowering to me. Participating in the institute showed me that we, as student journalists, did not have to navigate such conflicts alone. It also introduced me to advocacy as something that I could participate in through so many different mediums.
Protecting student journalism requires work in multiple different disciplines, whether it be organizing, policy, education or legislation. NVSLI not only taught me the importance of advocacy but also the extent to which it can be pursued by any student who wants to take it on.
Fast-forward a few years, I now have a different perspective on New Voices advocacy that I use in my work as an intern for SPLC. I’m privileged enough to get to see some of the work that exists behind the resources the organization provides, the planning that goes into the institute, and the support mechanisms put in place to ensure student journalists are not facing censorship alone.
I see NVSLI now as more than just a supportive space but an advocacy pipeline. It serves as a space where students are encouraged to not only recognize the struggles they face in their own newsrooms but also are given the resources they need to push for broader change in their districts and states.
Serving as a co-facilitator during this year’s NVSLI has inspired me to continue doing the work I do even more. Seeing another generation of students and journalists express so much passion and tenacity for the work I dedicated myself to doing just three years ago fills me with more hope for the future of New Voices and student journalism in this country.
I may have been lucky enough to experience NVSLI twice, but its greatest impact has been showing me that the support I once received can transform into the advocacy I now give back to those in similar positions.
New Voices is a student-led, nonpartisan movement working to end censorship of student media by passing state laws that protect students’ right to report freely. The Student Press Law Center powers this movement by convening coalitions, educating lawmakers, sharing model policies and equipping students with the training and confidence they need to stand up for press freedom. Learn more about how you can take action to restore and protect student press freedom in your state.