For more than a decade, the Scripps Howard Foundation partnered with The Commercial Appeal and the University of Memphis to create an opportunity for high school students in Shelby County to work at a newspaper.
Named the Teen Appeal, the paper offers local area high school students a chance to produce a monthly newspaper and participate in a weeklong journalism summer camp.
But a change in funding from the Scripps Howard Foundation may cause the student-run paper to come to an end after this year.
“I cant really say what is going to happen after this year but they have funded us since we’ve started and we do have a good relationship with them,” Elle Perry, coordinator of the Teen Appeal said.
When asked why the Scripps Howard Foundation decided to cut their funding, Perry declined to comment but said the paper will be looking for another way to get the money they need.
“I am pretty optimistic that people are interested in the things the Teen Appeal students are doing and would be interested in being a part of helping that continue,” she said.
The paper started in 1997 and currently has over 100 high school students on staff from schools across Shelby County. The paper is printed by The Commercial Appeal and distributed monthly to the different high schools by the circulation department. Students involved learn to further develop their writing, interviewing and multimedia production skills.
“The Teen Appeal teaches these students not just how to write well, but how to think critically and how to interview,” Otis Sanford, journalism professor and project director for the Teen Appeal said.
The Commercial Appeal is currently owned by the E.W. Scripps Company, but is in the process of being sold to another company. According to Sanford, the Scripps Howard Foundation notified the University they would stop their funding after the CA was sold.
“The Teen Appeal is a unique program and there are very few like this in the country, so I am confident we will find other forms of funding,” Perry said.
The Teen Appeal’s mission is to introduce students to journalism while they are still in high school. Many students work there who otherwise would not have an opportunity to work at a newspaper because their high school does not offer one. Students often write about pressing and important issues to the community.
“The Teen Appeal will live on, without or without the Scripps Howard Foundation,” Sanford said. “It is far too important to this community to die.”
