FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM NOVEMBER 30, 2017 • KIDS & EDUCATION • THE QUEENS COURIER 39
kids & education
Photo courtesy of the Student Press Law Center
Journalists at Flushing’s Townsend
Harris HS receive national award
BY SUZANNE MONTEVERDI
smonteverdi@qns.com / @smont76
For their dedication in reporting
months of discord between students and
an embattled school leader, journalists
at a public Flushing high school have
received national recognition.
Townsend Harris High School’s student
newspaper, Th e Classic, has been awarded
the 2017 Courage in Student Journalism
Award by the Student Press Law Center.
Reporters were presented the award on
Nov. 18 at the fall National High School
Journalism Convention in Dallas.
With editor-in-chief Sumaita Hasan
and managing editor Mehrose Ahmad
at the helm, Th e Classic reported on
the school community’s ongoing battle
with interim acting principal Rosemarie
Jahoda, who was appointed to the position
in 2016 following the departure of
principal Anthony Barbetta.
Beginning with a sit-in, a student-led
campaign against the educator began in
December 2016. Students and educators
began to tell stories of alleged rude interactions
by Jahoda, which also reportedly
occurred at her previous post at the Bronx
High School of Science.
In the months-long fi ght, diff erent
members of the school community got
involved in the process in the form of rallies,
sit-ins, petitions and school meetings.
Finally, at the end of the DOE’s C-30
process in May 2017, Brian Condon was
appointed the permanent principal, ousting
the embattled Jahoda.
“I think that Mehrose and I simply
wanted to report on the truth amidst a
tense environment where there was a
lot of hearsay circulating,” Hasan said.
“As a school with First Amendment
rights, it was our duty to share the truth
with the public and bring controversies
to light. We were the only source with
direct access to the students and teachers
involved.”
In the middle of the unrest, a DOE offi -
cial allegedly called the student newspaper’s
stories on the matter “fake
news.” Th e journalists followed up with
a detailed letter to Mayor de Blasio and
NYC Schools Chancellor Carmen Fariña
responding to the claim.
“Th ese stories were maligned as ‘fake
news’ by the subject of these stories and
her supporters,” said SPLC Executive
Director Hadar Harris. “We’re here not
only to affi rm that the journalism done
by these young reporters is accurate and
in context, but to celebrate it at a national
convention of 4,000-plus high school
journalists.”
“I advise other high school journalists
to remain persistent and continue
to write for the sole purpose of providing
accurate information,” Ahmad said.
“Remaining persistent is the key to establishing
contacts amongst your community,
and these contacts will fuel your stories.
Remain fearless and unafraid when
confronting those of higher authority.
Speak the truth and stand by the truth
and know your rights.”
Hasan is currently a freshman in the
Macaulay Honors program at Hunter
College and Ahmad is a freshman at
Barnard College of Columbia University.
Th e Student Press Law Center is a nonprofi
t founded in 1974 to provide legal
support for those working in student
journalism nationwide. Th e award was
jointly sponsored by the Student Press
Law Center, the Center for Scholastic
Journalism (CSJ) at Kent State University
and the National Scholastic Press
Association. Th e CSJ provided a $1,000
award to Th e Classic.
Townsend Harris High School, located
next to the Queens College campus, is
consistently ranked among the best public
high schools in the country for academics.
Earlier this year, it placed No. 7
on a list of the top public high schools in
New York state.
Editor-in-chief Sumaita Hasan, adviser Brian Sweeney and managing editor Mehrose Ahmad
