My Free Spirit journey

David Reynolds represented Missouri at the Al Neuharth Free Spirit and Journalism Conference June 20-25. Each year, 51 high school journalists, representing all 50 states and the District of Columbia, are invited to participate in the all-expenses-paid conference at the Newseum in Washington, D.C. The Free Spirit conference began in 1999 to honor Al Neuharth, founder of  USA Today and the Newseum.

I could talk about meeting my journalism idols, touring the Capitol building or how I messed up during the graduation ceremony by walking off the stage when I wasn’t supposed to. I think, however, I owe more than that to a program and a group of people that has given me so much and taught me not just how to be a great journalist, but how to live. And, honestly, I don’t think rehashing the itinerary is going to give anyone reading this an insight into just how much the Al Neuharth Free Spirit and Journalism Conference has meant to me.

My journey as a Free Spirit started in January, when Mr. Eden encouraged me to apply to the conference, saying, “You really have a chance.”

I remember thinking, ‘Why me?’ I wasn’t going to be editor-in-chief. I didn’t have any awards I could highlight in my application. At that time, I didn’t even know what a Free Spirit was, and the deadline to submit the application materials was looming. I was going up against the best high school journalists in the state, and I think if I asked anyone besides Mr. Eden, they would agree my chances of being selected were pretty slim. Before I even applied to the conference, I refused to accept I was anything more than an average high school journalist. I soon realized how dangerous it is to think that way because otherwise I would’ve missed out on one of the greatest experiences of my life.

When I received an email with “WINNER” in the subject line April 9, I thought I was being spammed like one of the pop-ups on the internet that say, “You’ve won a free iPad.” Even when I found out the email was from the program director saying I was invited to participate in the conference, I didn’t believe I had actually ‘won.’ There must have been a mistake.

Most of the people I met at the Newseum were editor-in-chiefs, interned at their local newspaper, won a prestigious award other than being a Free Spirit and were applying to highly selective colleges, so I didn’t know why I was selected. As it turned out, the other Free Spirits were the nicest, funniest, most interesting people I have ever met. I quickly realized comparing myself to them didn’t make any sense because we all became so close.

I was also reassured by one man’s incredible life story. Even though during those six days I was able to meet NBC News Political Director Chuck Todd, the co-anchors of PBS NewsHour and the Secretary of the Press to Gerald Ford, what I took away from Al Neuharth, who passed away over two years ago, was the most important. Al was born in Eureka, South Dakota in 1924, in the midst of the Great Depression. When he was 2, his father died, and he helped his mother support her family by working several jobs during his childhood, including picking up cow chips on his grandfather’s farm. Al studied journalism at the University of South Dakota after serving in World War II and went on to create USA Today, the Freedom Forum and the Al Neuharth Free Spirit and Journalism Conference. Along the way, he was promoted multiple times at the Miami Herald and Detroit Free Press. Derick Daniels best explained Al’s circumstances when he said, “Usually, first you want money out of life. Then power. Then glory. Al didn’t have any of these at first, but he ended up with them all.”

It’s hard to give an accurate description of who Mr. Neuharth was because he embodied so many different qualities, but it’s safe to say the most important thing he taught me is everyone has a chance. And he was truly convinced of that too. If he wasn’t, he wouldn’t have created a program that invites teenagers to the world’s journalism museum free of charge for a week’s worth of instruction from some of the top professionals in the media industry.

Al loved the underdog because, in essence, he was one most of his life. The way he saw it, you don’t have to start out the best to make it to the big leagues; you just have to believe you’re the best, and eventually you’ll get there. Success is not about titles or attending an Ivy League school but about playing the cards you’re dealt with the best way you can on a consistent basis. And that’s what Al did best, going from shoveling cow manure to being in charge of the most widely read and most imitated newspaper in the country.

Despite all that Al has given me, I never got to physically meet him. He lives on, however, through the alumni of the Free Spirit program, the Newseum and the Free Spirit Conference slogan Dream. Dare. Do. I think this best sums up Al’s legacy and what he wants from all of us; I vow to live out that legacy.

To see more photos from the conference, click here.