Why we created a 'youth journalism' edition of The Bridge

When I asked a group of middle and high school students at Aliquippa Impact what they want to see in the news, here are some of the things they said: "Black history," "art," "first person point of view," "Black people," and "Kye's basketball highlights."

As the students were quickly able to identify, the news is regularly dominated by issues and perspectives different from their own. And those gaps deserve to be addressed. So that's what the students did. They filled the gaps in local news by creating the content themselves.

Using The Bridge as a platform, 15 students wrote essays, created art (in photograph form and drawings) and spoke on a podcast. We selected three broad categories for the content that felt in-line with what the students wanted to see represented in the news: sports, entertainment and community.

Back in the fall of 2025 I participated in a Community-Centered Symposium hosted by the Reynolds Journalism Institute (RJI) and Mirror Indy in Indianapolis, Indiana. Participants received a stipend to create a community-centered project. This edition was created, in part, with support provided by that stipend.

The Bridge is an alternative community publication in Beaver County. It features both original and community-submitted stories and creative pieces that dismantle stigmas, encourage collaboration and highlight community movement. A good portion of our content aims to highlight people and places that might not be featured in traditional news.

As the editor, I wanted to focus my project on listening to people in the community who are often overlooked in our local news: youth in Aliquippa.

I reached out to Aliquippa Impact, a nonprofit and after school program, to see if we could partner on a project. I wanted to take a session to listen to what the students had to say about the news. After an hour-and-a-half conversation, the students concluded they wanted to see more Black history outside of the month of February, Black people doing positive things in the community, art and culture, sports stories from people they know and love, and other community news.

The following week the students split into three groups — reporters, photojournalists and podcasters — to create their content. Seth Whitted of Whitted Media facilitated the podcasting, Akyera Thompson, youth development practitioner at Aliquippa Impact, facilitated the photography and I facilitated the writing. The students had one hour work on their pieces before turning them in.

One week later, we ate ice cream sundaes and looked at the completed Bridge newsletter together, fixing typos and making small changes as a team.

The final edition is available on our website. Be sure to check it out.

The Bridge is committed to deepening these collaborations. Rather than this youth-centered edition being a one-off, we're looking for ways to regularly amplify and platform student voices in our community. These kids have much to teach us.

If you have insights on how we can include more student voices in The Bridge, please reach out to [email protected].