SECA newspaper adviser Rachel West has informed us that next week is Scholastic Journalism Week. West, citing the recent censorship case involving the Bear Creek High student newspaper, wrote in an email that her students are making a special point of celebrating the First Amendment.
West wrote, ”One such activity was in support of the student journalism organization, 45 Words. This First Amendment protection group challenged newspaper staffs from across the country to express themselves by frosting the words of the First Amendment onto cookies and posting the results. My staff had a great time reminding themselves of those powerful words — and then got to eat the results!”
Next week, West wrote, students will quiz their fellow students on the First Amendment and a “five freedoms” scavenger hunt is planned.
West added, “As student journalists in California are the only student group specifically protected in California’s Education Code, it is imperative that advisers encourage professional standards of ethics and reporting. It is also imperative that all adults empower students to challenge authority when necessary, and allow them to give voice to the voiceless. Scholastic Journalism Week celebrates this.
“I am proud of my Wolves’ Chronicle staff members every day, but live in fear that someday they will have to endure what the adviser and staff at the Bear Creek Bruin Voice has recently dealt with: attempted censorship because an authority figure didn’t want kids to have a voice.”
