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"What You Do Is Worthy" (excerpts
from the keynote speech by Leah Friedman at the 2001 YEAA Conference.
At the time,
My career in journalism was hatched in the high school correspondent program at the Virginian-Pilot in Virginia Beach, Va. It was youth editor Lorraine Eaton who made me the woman I am today. I was attending a high school newspaper workshop, and Lorraine, a reporter from the Virginian-Pilot, was the workshop's keynote speaker. In her speech, Lorraine described a correspondent program she was launching at the Pilot, where teens would be invited to write articles about teen-age life, including controversial high school issues and the latest teen trends. At the time, I was becoming increasingly frustrated with my high school newspaper. Our articles were heavily censored by the school's administration, and our newspaper adviser was unreliable so publication was irregular. At the end of Lorraine's speech, I rushed up to the podium and told her to sign me up for the program. I must admit I was not one of those high school correspondents who did it because I wanted to be a reporter. In fact, I was bound and determined to become a doctor. In the sixth grade, my role model was a funny, fascinating and caring obstetrician named Dr. Heathcliff Huxtible. I was enthralled with Dr. Huxtible because he never really worked that much. Mostly, Dr. Huxtible just walked around his fabulous brownstone in New York City, making jokes and spending time with his picture-perfect family. So I thought obstetrics and gynecology were definitely the way to go. Even when I went to college, I dutifully signed up for my pre-med courses and planned to major in biology. But I also continued reporting. I committed to my career in journalism at the end of my first semester, right after I got my first chemistry grade back. Lessons learned Now, as a professional reporter, I am grateful on a daily basis for the lessons I learned as a high school correspondent. Even today, 10 years later, I rely heavily on the attitudes, habits and knowledge that Lorraine managed to instill in me. For example, I know about deadlines. After all, I've had them since I was in the ninth grade. Writing for the Pilot was the first time I experienced the true meaning of the phrase "No excuses." As it turns out, this is a pretty critical skill for a reporter. I also have a keen nose for news. As a high school correspondent, I was responsible for coming up with my own stories, which is pretty hard if you don't know exactly what you're doing. Eventually, though, I learned a second critical reporting lesson, and that is everything is a potential story. This awareness changed not only my reporting ability, but also my everyday life. My eyes were opened to a whole new world around me. Today, I notice everything. I notice how people behave and certainly what they say, and I notice my surrounding environment more than ever before. I learned being a reporter can cause controversy. While I was in high school, a reporter from the Virginian-Pilot asked me to help him with a story about a racially-charged incident that had occurred at my high school. I was thrilled to be a part of the team, and of course. I accepted the assignment. But somehow, the school principal found out that I was asking questions. She called me into her office and asked me not to participate in this story, and said if I did, I would face big trouble. I nodded my head politely, left her office and immediately went to a pay phone to call the reporter and share the information I had gathered. That was the day I learned a good reporter has to have the courage to report on controversy and strive for objectivity even when all others have lost their courage and objectivity. Even if it means you will be the object of someone's wrath and contempt for the rest of your life. In addition, I discovered reporters inevitably face scrutiny. While I was a correspondent for the Virginian-Pilot, I knew my friends, my parents, my parents' friends, my neighbors and my teachers would all be reading my articles. As a teen-ager, I experienced this as a huge amount of pressure, because if something was wrong in my article, think of the humiliation. But that fear of humiliation prepared me for my life as a reporter. Even though today I write on a much larger scale and under more anonymity, I am able to understand and deal with the criticism and scrutiny that comes along with being a reporter. Most important, as a high school correspondent, I felt my ideas were valued, which was a completely heady feeling for me. The Virginian-Pilot considered me an expert observer of teen-age life. I was considered THE ONE who knew what was going on in my school, and that was a good feeling. Because the Pilot's correspondent program provided me with these valuable experiences, I launched a high school correspondent program last fall at the Reston Times to pass my lessons on to the next generation of reporters. And I have to say, I have even more appreciation for what you do. For example, when I suggested our paper launch a correspondent program, my editors immediately shot the idea down. They said teen-agers are unreliable, and it would take too much time to coordinate students from so many schools in Fairfax County. But as I said before, I am an only child, so I've never been one who takes the word no seriously. I begged and begged, and finally the editors gave in to my request. I launched the program and have since found out firsthand that my editors were completely right. Teen-agers are unreliable, and it does take a lot of my time to help them develop and edit their stories. Secondly, in a slumping economy, I've discovered correspondent programs tend to be the most vulnerable. When the economy went south this year, our correspondent program was the first to be affected. Thirdly, we have the challenge of helping our young reporters become discriminating individuals in a sea of information. As youth editors, we are faced with the challenge of teaching our students how to digest and handle all of this information. And I must say it is a daunting task we have before us. And now after Sept. 11, things not only changed for our country, but it also changed our jobs as youth editors. After so many of us watched the second plane hit the World Trade Center live on television, we found ourselves facing a whole new information age, where we not only have to teach young people how to evaluate information, but also write about it immediately in a fluid and thoughtful way. One of my favorite articles this year was from a young woman who covered her high school prom. Instead of writing a traditional article, though, she and her date created a "she said," "he said" journal, chronicling their experiences on the day of the prom. Her journal started with her 9 a.m. hair appointment. His journal began at 1 p.m. when he woke up and played games on his Sony PlayStation. It was a very funny and sweet article, and one that her classmates and the Reston community will remember for a long time.
The bottom line I stand here before you sharing the lessons I learned as a high school correspondent and, now, as a youth editor, as a way to tell you that what you do is worthy. Because of your efforts as a youth editor, there are hundreds of successful reporters out there, like myself, who have taken what we've learned from our youth editors and applied it to our jobs and our everyday lives. And from these lessons, I am now helping to cultivate the next generation of high school correspondents. I am proud to say two of our students who graduated this year are in journalism programs at their universities. So when a student doesn't turn in an article on time, don't give up. Even when your students say they would rather be doctors than reporters, don't stop teaching them. When your colleagues look at you funny for wanting to work with teen-agers, don't give in. When your programs get cut or sized back, by golly, fight with all your might to keep them afloat. Because your efforts produce results. I stand before you tonight as a successful product of your experiment. On behalf of all the high school correspondents you have impacted, I want to say thank you. We are forever grateful for your time, patience and insight. In particular, I want to extend my most heartfelt gratitude to Lorraine Eaton for her effort, her creativity and her wisdom. Because she believed in me, she inspired me to believe in myself. And to all of us who take on the challenge of introducing the next generation to the field of journalism, let's all keep up the good work because the next budding reporter who needs your guidance is right outside your door. |