Arriving at school before 5:30am, notepads in hand, Rhinebeck’s Journalism class and club kicked off this past school week with a field trip to student press heaven, thanks to a grant from the Rhinebeck Science Foundation. These movers and shakers had the chance to attend the Columbia Scholastic Press Association’s event for high schoolers in New York City.

After a two-hour bus ride down, the fifteen students, alongside their journalism teacher Ms. Wheeler, were able to sign up for five information sessions on a wide variety of topics ranging from design layout to the first amendment rights of high school journalists.

Grace Ellis, The Rhinebeck Reality’s Opinion Editor, named “How to Be More Creative” as her favorite session. “I thought that I was already a creative person,” she explained, “but it gave me a lot of great ideas about how to avoid writer’s block and be my most creative self.”

Reporter Austin Matthies’ favorite was called “Controversy, Confession and Cornflakes.” He appreciated its humor, and how “it discussed topics that aren’t usually talked about.” Namely, the session delved into sensitive subjects pertaining to high school students, and to what extent they can be discussed in a school paper.

James Ayton was one of the creative writing club members to whom the conference invitation was extended when a few journalists couldn’t make it. He explained that the conference changed his perception of the creative process. James added that the design concepts the sessions elaborated upon will surely help him in the upcoming months, as he works on RHS’s Literary Magazine.

Personally, I found the most relevant aspect of the field trip to be the discussion of our free speech rights as student journalists. It can be difficult to gauge what constitutes censorship, but representatives of the Student Press Law Center (SPLC) were present and happy to explain.

Many of the organizers reached out to us as high schoolers and explained that due to the Supreme Court Case Hazelwood School District v. Kuhlmeier, many schools have begun abusing their power to ban any writing they deem unfit for a school-sponsored publication.

“How many of you are censored?” the speaker, John Taglareni asked. Some students raised their hands. “How many of you are partially censored?” More students raised their hands. “Well, being censored is like being pregnant. You either are, or you aren’t.”

Taglareni is a longtime advocate for the New Voices legislation, which has worked to fight back against Hazelwood and grant more power to the high school press. Though this legislation has been passed in fourteen states (NY is not one of them), he’s been working to get it passed in his home state of New Jersey, and is also in communication with New York legislators.

This was the first time our school has ever been in attendance to the Columbia Scholastic Press Association fall conference, and it certainly won’t be the last. Not only did students and Columbia College alumna Ms. Wheeler enjoy visiting the city and seeing Columbia’s beautiful campus, but they also came away with insight and new ideas for their future writing and designing. The best of both The Rhinebeck Reality and the Lit Mag are indeed yet to come.

If you’re interested in attending this field trip next year, be sure to sign up for Journalism with Ms. Wheeler!

If you want to write for The Rhinebeck Reality, talk to Ms. Wheeler, one of our Editor-in-Chiefs, Natalia DeZubiaurre or Reagan Schweppe, or write to [email protected].