By Wendy Zang
(reprinted from the fall '01 newsetter)

For us, leaving a section is like leaving a baby. We have invested so much time, effort and love into our youth products.

Change isn't easy, but it's often necessary.

That goes for a lot of things. It's easy to stay the course, maintain the status quo or live out a million different clichés about keeping life the same. But that's not always for the best.

The changes in YEAA are a good example. If we passed on the opportunity to merge with the NAA Foundation, we'd be losing a chance to increase our reach and advance the youth editorial movement.

I had my own opportunity for change a few months ago - one that I felt I could not pass up.

I was offered a job with Knight Ridder/Tribune news service. My problem? Leaving Voices.

It is difficult enough leaving a newspaper that you like, but youth editors have it harder than the rest of the newsroom. Designers, reporters, copy editors can all leave their posts knowing that someone else will slip into their shoes. I'm sure we'd all like to believe that no one can ever replace us, but for other positions, you know that people will pick up the slack and the paper will continue on without you.

For youth editors, it's a different story. For us, leaving a section is like leaving a baby. We have invested so much time, effort and love into our youth products. And in many newsrooms, we're the only ones who really understand how the section works. Often it seems like we're the only ones who care.

The worst part is that, for some youth editors, the section might not make it without them. Unlike the reporters, whose beat is taken over after they've left, many youth editors face the reality that once they leave, the section might die.

I was lucky. I wasn't the first Voices editor at the Reading Eagle, and I knew I wouldn't be the last. While it was still hard to leave something that I had put so much time and effort into, I knew that Voices would continue on and be strong without me.

The question is, how can we create that same sort of support at other papers so other youth editors don't have to choose between career advancement and success of the section?

Let reporters and editors know who your writers are. The teens can be a valuable news-gathering tool.

It can start with you.

Launch your own marketing campaign within your building. Make sure people at the newspaper know what you're doing. Let them know about your successes. Did you or your kids win YEAA awards? Does everyone know? Do you get complimentary letters from the community? Do you pass them along?

Bring your kids in to interact with other editors and reporters. The hope is that the adults will see the light and realize how great these kids are.

Does your paper have internships? Are your kids applying for them? Your section can easily be working as a recruiting tool, funneling talent into the newsroom.

Be a resource. Let reporters and editors know who your writers are. The teens can be a valuable news-gathering tool. Is there a shortage of lifeguards in your community? Are raves a big deal? Need a yearbook photo of a missing student? I bet you can get all that faster than anyone else in the newsroom.

By helping others at your paper see the youth section's worth, you'll only be helping yourself and the section in the long run. When the time comes, you'll be able to answer opportunity's knock with a little more peace of mind.

But it still won't be easy.