Wednesday, January 29, 2020, marks the annual celebration of Student Press Freedom
Day. This event is particularly special for The Viking Press members due to their close
connection with the subject.

“I’m glad my students have the same opportunity a student in a public school would
have,” said The Viking Media advisor Alicia Merrifield. “Coming from a public middle
school, we didn’t have to worry about the restrictions of writing,” said Zoe Nguyen, a
new member of the class

Typically, private schools are not government-sanctioned like public schools, meaning
that the school can decide to limit their students’ freedoms, as was done with Village.
For this reason, the journalism class worked hard to fight for press rights that are not
typically given to them. This turned out to be a huge success, and the class was able to
create guidelines for the school and gain freedom in doing so.

“This success has given us self autonomy and the right to really put the freedom of the
press in our hands,” said senior Akbarali, assistant editor-in-chief of the Viking Press. “It
protects our students’ rights and allows them to write about whatever they want.”