Two Carmel High School HiLite newspaper students, junior Caroline Zhang and sophomore Victor Xu, were just named 45words student partners for the 2011-12 school year. The Journalism Education Association’s (JEA) Scholastic Press Rights Commission created the group as a way to help students connect with their peers to support, protect and spread awareness about the First Amendment, according to the 45words website.

This past year was the first year for the organization and members of that inaugural group included eight students from Arizona, California, Indiana, Minnesota, Missouri, Pennsylvania and Seoul, Korea. CHS senior Sara Rogers, this year’s HiLite editor in chief, was the Indiana representative. This year’s group includes 12 students from California, Florida, Minnesota, Missouri, Pennsylvania and Virginia.

“It’s been a great experience speaking and meeting with other journalists across the country to get a feel for the issues they face with censorship,” Rogers said. “45words encourages open dialogue and discussion between students in order to really recognize and preserve the First Amendment freedom of speech.”

According to the 45words website, “45words represents the 45 important words of our First Amendment. These words contain the five freedoms that all Americans cherish. This…is a student-run group of…students across the country who are leading the fight against censorship.”

The group shares its information in a number of ways – through its blog, through social media outlets like Twitterand Facebook and at national scholastic journalism conventions.

Related links:

JEA Scholastic Press Rights Commission

Sara Rogers’ blog: “Respecting authority and vice versa”