Courage in Student Journalism Honorees Tour NPC

Club Vice President Alan Bjerga met over brunch Saturday at the Fourth Estate restaurant with the three winners of Courage in Student Journalism Awards, who were in Washington to receive their honors.

Seth Zweifler, editor in chief of The Spoke at Conestoga High School in Berwyn, Pa., and Henry Rome, his predecessor who is now a first-year student at Princeton, were honored for their opposition to a school policy to review newspaper content in advance imposed after their student paper reported that a janitor in the local middle school maintained his position despite a bank robber arrest and other law violations.

Barb Thill, the former adviser of The Statesman at Stevenson High School in Lincolnshire, Ill., resigned after school administrators impelmented a policy to review content prior to publication the paper published several articles about casual, alcohol-related ``hooking-up' among students. During her time as adviser, she has mentored students who have gone on to work at the New York Times, the Financial Times and other prestigious newspapers, she said.

After brunch, Bjerga took the winners on a tour of the Club, pointing out previous winners of the Fourth Estate award and explaining some of the Club's artistic treasures. The awards are sponsored by the Center for Scholastic Journalism, the National Scholastic Press Association and the Student Press Law Center.