Alice Scott is the Editor-in-Chief of The Shield, the publication at McCallum High School in Austin, Texas. Scott works on legislative efforts to build a backing for New Voices law as well as educating others around the state about student journalism.

“As a student journalist from a more liberal area of Texas, I have never personally dealt with censorship of my publication. However, I know this is not the case for most school media outlets across the state. I fight for student press freedoms for those students and those schools who deal with censorship every day despite deserving the right to a free press.” 

What I Do

As the Legislative Officer of New Voices Texas, I will work to make contact with Texas Legislatures and communicate the importance of a free student press to policymakers. Although the Texas legislature will not be in session this school year, there is still work to be done. In this position, I will be responsible for reaching out to possible bill sponsors and legislators who have been supportive of New Voices Texas in the past to remind them of our goals and ways they can support us in the future. I hope to combine these efforts with my other role as an Education Specialist to inform Texas schools about what New Voices is and how they can support the passage of a law in the future. Specifically, I hope to educate student journalists on the way the legislative process works in Texas and how they can use that information to their advantage. I will measure success as an officer by the number of contacts made with both legislators and students across the state who want to support NVT.  As a student journalist from a more liberal area of Texas, I have never personally dealt with censorship of my publication. However, I know this is not the case for most school media outlets across the state. I fight for student press freedoms for those students and those schools who deal with censorship everyday despite deserving the right to a free press. By the end of the school year, I hope that I have set up the incoming officers for success in the next legislative session.