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AWARDS
MFP’s Youth Media Project Students Earn National Recognition
The Mississippi Free Press Youth Media Project collected seven awards during the Report for America Student Journalism Awards ceremony on April 24. The Youth Media Project brings metro area high school students to the Mississippi Free Press newsroom for six weeks each summer where they learn journalism, photography and videography skills and produce print and multimedia stories.
MEET THE STUDENTS
‘We Are All Family’: Valedictorian Laila Henderson Moves Toward Coding Career
Laila Henderson, an honor student during her years at Brandon High School, was introduced to coding in elementary school, which later played a major part in her education and career decisions. Her teachers also played a part in her high-school educational experience.
Jakara Guston: Learning to Use Her Voice to Help Others
Jakara Guston is active in her community and uses her voice to help others
Headlines and Heart: The Making of Journalist Hannah Evans
Inspired by her mother’s strength and legacy, Hannah Evans is a rising teenage journalist using her voice to uplift stories that matter. With each word, she honors where she comes from and where she’s determined to go.
Through Pain, Charlton ‘CJ’ Davis Finds Creation
Charlton “CJ” Davis uses his struggle and pain from a football injury to bring other athletes’ dreams to life through photography. He plans to learn more about photography and refine his skills at the Youth Media Project.
Kirstyn Lyles: A Showstopper On and Off the Stage
Theater has been a huge part of Kirstyn Lyle’s life since the second grade. Although she is moving on to pursue bigger things, it will always be in her heart.
Future Reporter Taylor Brandon Evokes the Spirit of Journalism
The second-year Mississippi Youth Media Project student-mentor majored in journalism and minored in music at Mississippi College in fall 2024. Her first-year classes included many communication and music classes.
IN-DEPTH
ISSUE FOCUS | Reducing Child Poverty Through the Child Tax Credit
The Child Tax Credit was a part of the American Rescue Plan of 2021. The plan, also known as the COVID-19 Stimulus Package, was a $1.9 trillion economic stimulus bill, which Congress passed, and President Joe Biden signed into law on March 11, 2021. The American Rescue Plan Act’s purpose was to speed up the country’s recovery from the economic downturn that resulted from the COVID-19 pandemic. The CTC gave $2,000 per child to parents who have children aged 6-17 and $3,600 per child under age 6.
ISSUE FOCUS | Education and Opportunity for Young People
YMP Students writes on various issues in eduation such as teacher pay, lack of civic classes and discrimination in the classroom.
ISSUE FOCUS: The Past, The Present and The Future of Women’s Rights Issues
By Kirstyn Lyles, Kaitlyn Poole, McKenzie Matthews, Zaniyah Clayborne
Despite the world’s progression into the digital age, the fact remains that women have been fighting for the rights that men have been given since birth for centuries.
ISSUE FOCUS: Redlining, Voting Suppression and Felony Voting Bans Not Just Relics of Past
By Paris Braggs, Caitlyn Russell, Jeremy Thomas and La’Ziyah Walker
“If you look at who makes the laws, if you look at how things are passed, if you look at how processes are created—most of those things are created by folks who are voted into office.” – Maisie Brown
Examining School Equity: Why ‘Equality’ Alone Does Not Serve All Students
“When it comes to equity you want to make sure that students have access to what it is they need so they can be successful,” said Tonja Murphy.
ELECTIONS
Reimagining Elections: Mississippi teenagers’ advice to media, candidates, leaders and school
Mississippi teenagers’ advice to media, candidates, leaders and school
The More We Learned, The More We Cared: How YMP Teenagers Analyzed Election Coverage
By Zaniyah Clayborne
The solution-circle experience inspired the students. “It opened my mind to the range of problems that are apparent in Mississippi, and I think that we as the youth can help create the change,” YMP student journalist Kirstyn Lyles said.
With Much on the Line, the U.S. Latino Vote Can Tip the Scale
By Caitlyn Russell
For Darlyn Bustillo, this election is particularly impactful because it highlights the growing influence of Latino voters in the United States.
YMP Students: We Get Very Little Civics, Elections Training In School
By Ava Washington
Nakisha Davis said incorporating interactive activities into youth lessons on politics would help give them a better understanding of the content, particularly if teachers made use of “things such as mock elections, role playing, field trips and guest speakers.”
Opinion | Trump Can Run With 34 Felonies, But Many Mississippians Cannot Vote on Nov. 5
By Kaitlyn Poole
The case of Donald Trump, who has been indicted for 34 felonies and is still allowed to run for president, highlights the inconsistencies in how disenfranchisement laws are applied. Denying felons the right to vote is unfair because it perpetuates inequality, hinders rehabilitation, contradicts democratic values and