Editors celebrate First Amendment during Scholastic Journalism Week

In light of Scholastic Journalism Week, The Feather Online hosted a pizza giveaway, Feb. 24 at noon. Students who were able to recite the five freedoms detailed in the First Amendment received free pizza on behalf of the staff.

The Feather prepared for the festivities by publicizing on multiple platforms. The pizza giveaway was announced on the intercoms, promoted during a school assembly, and fliers detailing the five freedoms were handed out to the student body. All high school students were allowed to participate in the pizza giveaway, including the journalism staff.

The First Amendment freedoms are as follows: freedom of speech, freedom of press, freedom of religion, right to assemble, and right to petition the government. These rights and freedoms permit the people of America to take charge of their own lives and create change in their environments.

The Disney movie, Newsies, portrays adolescents taking on a large newspaper company by utilizing their freedoms from the First Amendment. Students who were able to state the freedoms and then explain how those relate to the movie earned a raffle ticket for an Apple Watch.

In the Newsies, Joseph Pulitzer, the owner, of the newspaper, took advantage of the children by making challenging rules for sales. These new rules made it nearly impossible for the boys to make a living wage. The “Newsies” in response took to the streets, printing their own paper, exposing the owner and the newspaper that they previously worked for.

The Newsies demonstrate that the freedoms and rights detailed in the First Amendment can influence those around us. Even the young can utilize their rights to shine a light on the truth and change the situation, even if that requires personal sacrifice and self-commitment.

The Feather Morphomen, (Rees Roggenstein, Joshua Carter, and Kevin Garcha) debuted their custom morph suits on Tuesday during the school assembly. Donning his morph suit yet again, Joshua Carter enjoyed quizzing the students and handing out free pizza.

“Rees, Kevin, and me decided to wear our morph suits again for this pizza giveaway during lunch,” Carter said. “Even though it got really hot inside the suit I liked seeing people come around and try to recite their freedoms and rights. A couple of people struggled in remembering, but they got there eventually.”

Taylor Cowger, ’17, thought that the pizza giveaway gave him a good incentive to memorize the First Amendment.

“Normally I don’t remember most of this stuff, even though I’m sure I learned about this in a history class,” Cowger said. “But I think the free pizza gave me some motivation to memorize it this this time. I think the freedoms are really important because they let me express myself.”

Student Body President, Timothy Nyberg won the raffle for the Apple Watch.

“I really can’t believe I got the Apple Watch, I didn’t think I would,” Nyberg said. “But I am really happy that I did. Relating the five freedoms back to the Newsies was easy for me, but I don’t think I saw a lot of people doing that. I guess the odds were in my favor.”

The Feather Online encourages all students to participate during the festivities for Scholastic Journalism Week. Share personal struggles, discuss solutions, and talk about how the First Amendment affects students today. Comment on Feather articles, write letters to the editor, and share thoughts via Feather social media.

For more articles on Scholastic Journalism Week, please read LETTER: Appreciating the news