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.
Bowen Darling is one of those students. She is a junior at Little Rock Central High School in Arkansas where she serves as the social media editor for The Tiger for the 2026-2027 school year. She shares her experiences at the Institute and what comes next for her advocacy.
Hi everybody! My name is Bowen Darling, and I’m one of Arkansas’ student press advocates for 2026. I first heard about the New Voices Student Leaders Institute on my staff’s GroupMe but kept seeing more information about it online, so I decided to apply last minute. I’m so grateful that I did because in those two weeks I learned so much valuable information and, although I already had an interest in New Voices, the institute motivated me to start taking serious steps towards introducing legislation and building a coalition in my state.
During our meetings, I learned the things you’d expect: what exactly New Voices legislation is, a history of student press battles, and how to contact legislators. I took what I learned and eventually decided I would spend my time gathering advocates and introducing a bill to the Arkansas State Legislature that protects public high school advisers. (The current Arkansas New Voices law protects public high school and public college student journalists, but not their advisers.)
All of these lessons and all of our guest speakers — students, lawyers and experienced advocates — shared their experiences, which demystified the process and gave me confidence for the future. But the icebreakers before we jumped into the hard part of the day taught me so much too. I began following more journalists after hearing about them in the Zoom chat, and several book recommendations made it onto my ever-growing TBR.
The NVSLI offered so much more than a to-do list of advocacy. This institute brought light to a more human aspect of this goal that can be difficult to visualize when thinking about student press on a broader scale. Students from across the country were helping one another accomplish their individual goals, whether that’s changing a district media policy or introducing state legislation. Each state coalition has different plans for their advocacy, but we all share the common goal of protecting student voices.
Although I thankfully haven’t had issues with censorship, the threat of it looms over me just as it does for other journalists. But hearing firsthand experiences of censorship from other students — people who were also worried about their summer homework and wanted to see the new Spider-Man movie — gave me the inspiration to fully commit to my goal of passing a second New Voices bill in Arkansas.
I don’t think I can fully express my gratitude for the institute, but I know the work all the student leaders do in the coming years will prove how incredible the program was. From writing my story, creating SMART goals, and evaluating all the factors that will impact our journey, I learned a lot of amazing information about student press freedom and also developed skills I’ll use outside of advocacy.
I couldn’t have asked for a better way to spend my summer than supporting student journalists, and I can’t wait to see where the lessons from this institute take me.
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.