ef92335e791a2edbfd04c46b1de10cb7.jpg

SOUTH BRUNSWICK: VIKING VIBE

SBHS’ journalists attend Rutgers conference

By Seniors Mahathi Ayyagari and Ipsita Rao, Viking Vibe Staff
On Oct. 27, SBHS journalism students attended, for the first time in four years, the Garden State Scholastic Press Association (GSSPA) Fall Conference, which took place on the Busch Campus at Rutgers University.
Students had the opportunity to participate in sessions dedicated to learning more about different aspects of yearbook and newspaper journalism.
All attending SBHS students attended the keynote speech this year, titled "Press Rights, No Fear," which focused on fighting censorship in student media.
The speakers on the panel included GSSPA founder John Tagliareni, Pemberton High School alumnus Kylie Sposato, Northern Highlands Regional High School alumnus Adelina Colaku, founder of the Student Press Law Center (SPLC) Frank LoMonte, and reporter Phil Gianficaro.
This was the first time students were members of the keynote panel.
Ms. Sposato and Ms. Colaku, who are both now freshmen in college, had their articles censored by their high school administrations.
Through their stories, all members of the panel encouraged rising journalists and even yearbook members to never let their words, when justified and accurate, be suppressed.
Ms. Sposato’s article on smoking in the bathroom was banned from being published in her school’s newspaper, The Stinger.
She said that she had all the proper facts and research necessary for an accurate article.
She said, however, Pemberton High School Principal Ida Smith censored it "with no solid reasons," simply because it portrayed the school in a negative light.
After her first meeting with Principal Smith, Ms. Sposato said she "felt like giving up." Without the help of her advisor, Bill Gurden, Ms. Sposato said she probably would not have fought her case.
Ms. Sposato has since been speaking for student rights, as she did in the GSSPA fall conference, encouraging students to keep pushing for their voice.
Ms. Colaku included references to a political scandal, which involved various members of her district’s administration, but was censored even though she handled the situation objectively. After a three-month legal negotiation process, her article was eventually published.
"The Board of Education serves you, so you shouldn’t fear retaliation from them," she said.
She shared how her school, after her court process, changed its mission statement for publications to "foster school spirit", an action that, in her view, basically stated that the school did not want shed to negative light on its reputation.
"It was pretty dismaying," she said about having to go through such lengths to get her article published, "but it helps (in the college process) because it distinguishes and defines character. Don’t be afraid to speak up."
Ms. Colaku is now studying constitutional law at Bard University.
"When muffled, scream louder," said Mr. LoMonte.
He stressed that one student can get the ball rolling and others will continue for them in this fight for student press rights. He also said that students should not self-censor, but rather, write what they want to say.
"We build streets and name buildings after those who question authority," he added,"Do your best work, and don’t flee or outrun censorship."
Yearbook representative and panel mediator Bonnie Blackman made a final comment on self-censoring: "Don’t leave things out of life, because we are archiving life."
"The keynote speech was really inspiring since the speakers, who were high schoolers like us, really went above and beyond in the work and showed us what journalism was truly about," said junior journalism student Gopa Praturi, "I admire them a lot, and am truly happy that they received recognition for their articles."
Students were also recognized for their work from the 2013-2014 school year in various divisions including Feature Writing, Layout, Sports Writing, News Writing and Yearbook.
From SBHS, English teacher and yearbook advisor Anna Lehre and the yearbook staff, received the Platinum Award for the yearbook.
Gopa won first place in feature writing, for her article "Littered with Literary Controversy", available to read on vikingvibe.com.
"I feel like this was definitely a victory for me, since my journalistic writing was, for the first time in high school, recognized at a state level," She said. "Since I consider journalism as the work of my life, every victory in the field puts me one step further in the direction of pursuing a successful career as a news writer. So to sum it up, I feel great!"
Honorable mentions included senior Marzia Rahman for her article on Mr. Van den Arend’s resignation, senior Anushka Desai for her news writing on Amnesty’s Write for Rights, sophomore Malaika Jawed for her sports writing on the track team, alumna Sam Reilly for her layout and opinion writing on prom and, senior Mahathi Ayyagari and alumna Tina Agarwal for their article on Rutgers’ moviemakers.
Students then had the freedom to attend any seminar during each time slot. Seminars included Design Basics, Indesign 101, An Editor’s Roundtable, Coming Up with Article Ideas, and What To Do When Your School is Caught in a Media Storm.
Miss New Jersey 2014, Cierra Kaler-Jones, was also at the conference and students got the opportunity to talk with her and get pictures and autographs.
A Rutgers undergraduate student herself, Ms. Kaler-Jones is majoring in social work and doing her minor in women’s and gender studies, critical and comparative race and ethnic studies, and criminology.
Overall, the conference stressed the importance of student voice and going after what they believe in, as well as the impact that student journalists can have in school and also in their community. Most students who attended enjoyed what it had to share.
"It felt amazing being surrounded by all these journalists and the best part was that there were professional people who had real world insight, talking to us about their journalistic experience," Sophomore Malaika Jawed said. "I found the keynote speech really fascinating because our school doesn’t really censor articles that strictly as far as I know, so it was interesting to look at it from the view of an oppressed writer."