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AHS Seniors Win Mannheimer Student Advocacy Award

AHS Seniors Win Mannheimer Student Advocacy Award

By Lillie Zablocki

Press Release from American Civil Liberties Union of Iowa:

Atlantic, Iowa — Three Atlantic High School seniors will share the Robert Mannheimer Student
Advocacy Award for taking a courageous stand, editorializing logically and eloquently in the
on-line student newspaper about the district’s lack of transparency after an Atlantic teacher
tweeted an inappropriate photo of a hand over a breast.

Meghan Plambeck, Lillie Zablocki, and Sierra Smith of the Atlantic school’s online newspaper,
the AHSNeedle.com, “were called on to use their writing skill and thinking power to research and
write an editorial about a tense situation in our school district,” said the person who nominated
them, Allison Berryhill, Atlantic high English teacher and journalism advisor. “The topic was a
volatile one: A questionable Tweet had been posted from a beloved teacher’s account. The
students and community wanted explanation. The administration was tight-lipped.”

The students rightly called out the administration, saying that it was holding students and
teachers to different standards in sharing and using questionable social media. In a jointly
authored editorial last September, they wrote, “It is important that authorities maintain
transparency in how they are addressing the situation, especially in a case where the issue is
widespread public knowledge.”

Inspired Community Response
Berryhill said in her nomination that “the maturity of the writing and clarity of purpose resulted
in an editorial that was praised by the community, including teachers and even school board
members. As local and state news outlets picked up the story, the district superintendent
ultimately provided the community with at least acknowledgement of the situation and
assurance that the matter had been addressed.”

(A copy of the student’s editorial can be found by clicking here or by going to
http://www.aclu-ia.org. To see the Des Moines Register column by Rekha Basu praising the
girl’s courage, click here.)

Upholding Student Free Speech
ACLU of Iowa Executive Director Ben Stone said he was pleased that the award recognizes
three young journalists upholding basic First Amendment principles of free speech and
expression. The ability to question authority is a cornerstone of democracy.
tone said it’s especially appropriate that the ACLU of Iowa give the award to students since it
has a long history of defending student First Amendment rights, including the landmark “black
armband” case of Tinker v. the Des Moines Schools in front of the U.S. Supreme Court.

The three students will be formally named the winners of the Mannheimer Award at the ACLU
of Iowa’s annual dinner in Iowa City on Saturday, May 3.

Runner Up Fighting Human Trafficking
The runner-up in the contest is a Polk County student who prefers to remain unnamed for
safety reasons. She established a non-profit 501C3 non-profit called Teens Against Human
Trafficking, using digital and social media for education and advocacy, presenting state and
local workshops, and piloting an active anti-trafficking group at her high school.

About The Mannheimer Award
The Robert Mannheimer Youth Advocacy Award was established by the family of the late Des
Moines attorney who supported the ACLU of Iowa for more than 50 years as a cooperating
attorney, board member, and donor. It is given annually to a young Iowan aged 14 to 19 who
has demonstrated a passion and advocacy for civil liberties. (Click here for more details.)

The ACLU of Iowa is a private, non-partisan organization that fights to advance civil liberties for all. It is
the state affiliate of the national American Civil Liberties Union. The ACLU prides itself in upholding
everyone’s civil liberties, no matter who they are or what they believe. We work to assure the rights of all
Iowans—from atheists to devout Christians, from labor unions to businesspeople and more—to make sure
the constitutional rights of all are preserved. For more information, please go to www.alclu.org

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