As a high school in Kansas, Spring Hill publications are entirely student run and are able to write anything without worrying about what the district deems “unacceptable”. This is an example of Free Press, and SPUB has taken advantage of this law for many years. 

Remington White, Class of ‘23 alumni and former yearbook editor in chief, explains the importance of free press in their high school years on staff. 

“Free press was important because it gave me the ability to publish or write stories that I wanted to without the fear of being censored or persecuted for doing so. This was imperative for writing about topics like the [Black Lives Matter] movement or abortion rights,” White said.

White worked on a story “Voices Over Votes” last year, that was published in the yearbook and online, and touches on why free press was important to write that story. 

“[As] previously stated, I worked with another alumni, Lily Haney, on a story about abortion rights, how students feel about the topic, and how it affects them. In many schools, this topic could be deemed as too controversial to publish, but because Kansas high schools have free press, the story couldn’t be censored.”

White also witnessed other staff members write about similar controversial topics during their time on staff. 

 “Other people wrote multiple stories about the Black Lives Matter movement in 2020 and 2021 and even have students quoted saying the n-word. Without free press in Kansas, this could have easily been censored,” White said. 

Having free press is important for student-run publications in order to publish stories that are important to the staff and that they feel are necessary for students to read and learn about. The issue of free press for student journalists is extremely prevalent right now and it is important to understand the urgency of this issue and its impact.