By Joe Vigil

Every kid wants to get a taste of what life will be like after school in their field while getting to interact with famed professionals, getting an insider tour of the center of their industry and befriending fifty peers from across the country with their exact same interests.

If they could get all of this and not have to pay for it at all, they would feel they were in the middle of a dream. I was living the dream this summer from July 13-18. I attended the Al Neuharth Free Spirit and Journalism conference hosted by the Newseum in Washington, D.C. and Neuharth’s Freedom Forum. Joining me in attendance were 50 of the most outstanding high school junior journalism students from across the nation, each the sole delegate from their respective state and the District of Columbia. Over the course of the abbreviated week, we were given the daily opportunity to question and learn from a plethora of veteran journalists and powerful figures from Washington’s vast political spectrum. Additionally, the group, collectively known as the Free Spirit Scholars Class of 2013, was given an insider tour of the nation’s capital from a historical and journalistic perspective.

The week was kicked off with a bang when the scholars got the opportunity to sit in on a live broadcast of Meet the Press with David Gregory on Sunday, July 14. This particular show sparked especially intense debate among guests due to the fact that the verdict of George Zimmerman’s innocence had been announced on the previous night. Gregory interviewed Rev. Al Sharpton, Senate majority and minority leaders Harry Reid and Mitch McConnel, respectively, and later a roundtable of experts that included former New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson, all of whom weighed in on Zimmerman’s verdict, among other things. The scholars, who were seated in cramped bleachers behind the set, got the opportunity to question the show’s executive producer, Betsy Fischer Martin, as well as Gregory himself for a short period.

The enlightening conversations with speakers continued throughout the week, with Ford Press Secretary Ron Nessen, Politico reporter Bill Nichols, University of South Dakota President James Abbott, Jan, Dani and A.J. Neuharth, Civil Rights activists John Seigenthaler and Dr. Rip Patton, and 2012 Pulitzer Prize winner Sara Ganim. Seigenthaler and Patton offered insights into the Freedom Riders movement in Alabama in the early 1960s, and Ganim detailed the process of how she broke the Jerry Sandusky Penn State scandal. Ironically, one of the most poetically eloquent speakers was astronaut Tom Marshburn, whose description of earth’s atmosphere as having a “neon glow about an inch thick” and that “beyond that, there’s the oily black of space that’s almost palpable,” seemed to betray his technical and engineering knowledge.

In addition to the large number of one-time speakers were various individuals who traveled with the group throughout the week and offered many insights into the events we attended and both the historic and current process of journalism. These included social media expert Val Hoeppner, chief operating officer of the Newseum and senior vice president of the First Amendment Center Gene Policinski and Close Up representatives Gerald Taylor and Maura O’Brien, who made sure that the group was intact everywhere we traveled.

Aside from visiting various memorials and monuments around the capital, the scholars got ushered to some behind-the-scenes areas. After the visit to Meet the Press, the gang traveled to USA today for an exclusive tour in which they met current editors and founding members of the paper. Later that week, the scholars spent an entire day exploring all of the exhibits in the Newseum under the conference rooms in which all business had been conducted previously. The scholars also took a journalism oriented tour of the Capitol building, and after being given some history of the press in Congress from U.S. Senate Historian Don Ritchie, traversed the press boxes of the Senate and House chambers as well as various press rooms in a distant wing of the building.

Throughout the week, the scholars got the opportunity to meet incredible individuals, explore Washington from a unique perspective and learn things about journalism and themselves that they almost certainly would never have been able to do if they had not been selected to attend. However, the most remarkable thing about the experience might have been the friendships made. Considering that the students had never met before, all lived in separate states and were only together for five days, it is unusual that that they made such strong friendships. “The most profound part of it all was just meeting every scholar,” said Kentucky representative Michael Shelton. “I never thought you could get close to a group of 50 people in less than a week, but we did. It was nice to be with people who are similar to you and have the same common goal.” Not only were the friendships made remarkably unlikely, they also provided for a unique journalistic advantage. “The diversity of the students on (sic) program—from every state—is huge!” said Taylor. “It allows each and every participant to gain a little more insight and perspective on the common topics and issues that all of you discuss and write about. I think when you can put yourself in someone else’s shoes and understand their point of view—even if you don’t agree, it makes you a better journalist.”

The conference was and is a one-of-a-kind experience. “To me the conference was much more than just journalism,” said Shelton. “The things I learned from everyone, speakers and scholars, will stay with me for the rest of my life.” The Free Spirit Scholars likely consider themselves very lucky to have been a part of the conference. “In general, I don’t think there are many other programs that can compare to the Free Spirit program,” said Taylor. “I’ve watched students get to know each other over the course of the Free Spirit week and really grow and learn from each other—and those lessons are priceless.”

“Everything I learned at the conference went much further than just journalism,” continued Shelton. “It all applied to life.”