First Amendment Essay Contest: Truth

By Natalie Lukich
Greenwood High School

Students do not shed their constitutional rights when they enter the schoolhouse door. In 1969, the Supreme Court made this statement regarding the Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School Corporation case. I believe that I hold the rights to the First Amendment, no matter how old I am. More importantly, I have the obligation to use them.

As a student journalist, my most valued First Amendment right is the one that I use on a daily basis – the freedom of speech. As the Editor-in-Chief of the Greenwood High School Timberlines, I write the staff editorials regarding events happening in or affecting my school. I enjoy being able to express my staff’s opinion and mine and make a difference in the student body.

I have written multiple editorials that truly utilized my First Amendment rights, especially one. When a student got in a drunk driving accident, our school’s service learning class decided to organize a fund-raiser for her family to help with medical bills. A small group of students felt this was supporting drinking and driving, so they made T-shirts to broadcast their beliefs to the student body. When the administration made them take off the shirts that broke no school rules, the newspaper staff realized these students were being deprived of their First Amendment rights.

I researched cases in history and compared them to our case. The obvious comparison involved Tinker, when students wore armbands to school to protest the Vietnam War. The Supreme Court ruled everyone has First Amendment rights, no matter their location or age. The editorial gained a lot of attention, and whether people agreed with me or not, I was proud of standing up for a group trying to exercise their freedoms, even if I did not agree with what they were saying.

Before this event, I believed I had the right to express my opinion; however, after I wrote this editorial, I realized the importance of utilizing my freedoms. Even though I am still considered a youth, I have the power to make changes. If all students were to come to this realization, our elders would view our generation differently. We would stand for something more than iPods, designer purses and American Idol.

Natalie is Editor in Chief of the Timberlines, the student newspaper. She is also a member of the broadcast team, National Honor Society, Key Club and Student Council. Next year she will major in marketing management at Purdue University.