Meet the Press Rights student partners

Thanks to JEA member Bryan Farley, you can see the kick-off of the Scholastic Press Rights Commission Student Partners project. His blog, “More Than Kids: Understanding People Through Photography,” includes links to photos of the group’s booth at the Portland convention.

Three of the high school students able to attend the convention were Ted Noelker (Central Focus, managing editor of multimedia) of Francis Howell Central High School, St. Charles, Mo.; Zoe Newcomb (The Broadview, news editor) of Convent of the Sacred Heart High School, San Francisco; and Meghan Morris (The Spoke, assistant managing editor) of Conestoga High School, Berwyn, Pa.

These three spent time at the booth, talking to other students and letting them know about their 45words initiative, which is designed to support their peers when it comes to First Amendment issues. They also promoted their Editor’s Emergency Toolkit.

Other student partners are Morgan Brewster (The Mustang Express, multimedia editor) of Sunrise Mountain High School in Peoria, Ariz.; Christopher Kim (The Tiger Times and Kaleidoscope, copy editor) of Seoul International School, Seoul, Korea; Zachary Knudson (The Crier, managing editor) from St. Francis (Minn.) High School; Sara Rogers (The Hi-Lite, cover story editor) from Carmel (Ind.) High School; and Joseph Weber (The Kirkwood Call, features writer) Kirkwood (Mo.) High School.

Already members of the group have reached out to students at schools facing censorship and prior review situations, offering support and suggestions. They plan to host a booth at the JEA/NSPA Kansas City convention in November. In the meantime, follow them on Twitter or Facebook.

Also enjoy Farley’s blog post about the First Amendment. I don’t know how he does it, but he does. (And you’ll have to read the blog to understand what that means….)