By Jena Seidemann
Student Life Editor
BOSTON – It is fitting that the 2013 JEA/NSPA Fall National High School Journalism Convention host is Boston, one of America’s first cities to fight for the fundamentals of journalism. Known for the first newspapers, outspoken people and patriotic beliefs, colonial Boston is the epitome of what America should be.
As the patriots were bold, so must every other journalist in the 21st century. Our mottos is to “seek truth and report it” within ethical means to the public. However, we do not live up to the standards set for us by our forefathers. 
Professional journalism can be notorious for overstepping the boundaries and high school journalism can be notorious for not getting anywhere near the boundaries for fear of offending someone.
To my fellow high school journalist I say this: get out of your training diapers and put on your big kids pants.
Stand up for what you believe in and if there is a topic that needs to be addressed, utilize your rights and speak up.
Societies’ youth has this mindset that they would rather not speak than offend anyone. I am not endorsing or encouraging people to maliciously attempt to offend others, but do not let anyone bully you into changing your opinion. Do not let them dictate your actions because no one will ever be happy, and you are entitled to opinion.
No one has the right to take that away from you just because they do not agree.
Journalism is undoubtedly one of the most backbreaking professions or responsibilities around. There is a continual stream of people that will always wish to cut you down or criticize you, but that is OK. It is healthy for someone to always be against you because it builds a thick skin. Instead of wilting from the heat, become stronger.
It takes guts and dedication, something that is vey much like the characteristics of our forefathers. Journalists are a different kind of folk. They are people that boldly go where the average Joe will not.
Think about this, did our Founding Fathers give a hoot what the King of England thought? No. Yet, they spoke out boldly because they were driven by their conscious and did not fear the crown, someone who could take away their life with a snap of their fingers. That is called being gutsy, and we need to be that.
There is a reason why the soldiers suffered through the frigid winter of 1777 at Valley Forge. They had measly rations, minimal clothes and walked barefoot in the snow and left a trail of bloody footprints or why Boston dealt with the Intolerable Acts in 1774; it is so that their children could live in a land where they were not oppressed because they opened their mouth. That is the America I want, a country that will speak and not be silenced or dictated by fear. I ask this of all of you, do not let their suffering be in vain.
My pride for America oozes out of me. I live in a country where people have the right to speak their minds, and all I want is that our future generations are fortunate enough to utilize the same rights, and the only way that can be maintained is if high school journalists leave their “safe” topics behinds and report on what really needs to be talked about, whether it be good or bad.
As I stroll around the historical district of Boston and stand were our Founding Fathers stood, I am reminded of the duty of which I have been called: to speak up for the voiceless and insure that I seek the truth and report it to the people because it is my duty as an American citizen and as a journalist.
