Katie Grumet is one of the page editors for James Bowie High School Dispatch in Austin, Texas. Grumet works alongside her peers to help inform students and lawmakers about the significance of student press laws.

“Every student journalist deserves to feel protected and heard. Through censorship, student journalists are discouraged and punished for speaking their truth. We should create an environment where we encourage students to keep the community informed and speak their truth. Student journalists play a crucial role in informing and covering events happening in the community. Without student journalists, high school students become an unrepresented and silenced community.”

What I Do

As the Education Officer and Podcast Co-Host, I help inform people about New Voices and raise awareness about the lack of legislation and press freedom that student journalists in Texas experience. It’s my job to create content and give presentations that help inform people about the importance of laws and legislation for student journalists in a compelling way. I plan to create a podcast with my peers in New Voices and in my publication, presentations, social media posts, and articles to help spread the word.


One of my goals as an Education Officer and Podcast Co-Host during this interim session is to get more of the representatives in Texas aware of our organization and have them join the fight by agreeing to help support the bill next legislative session. In addition to this goal, I would also like to help create engaging and informative content to help inform people about student journalism rights and legislation. This can ideally help grow our social media following, and that will further our ability to spread our message to students and advisors across Texas. I plan to help educate students and advisors by giving presentations at journalism events and school board meetings, and working with other New Voices officers on social media content. I will measure my success by the number of supporters we gain this year and by tracking data such as how often people interact with the content I create.