2024 Free Spirit Scholar: Lillian Mirosavich

In June, I had the opportunity to represent South Carolina in Washington, D.C., at the Al Neuharth Free Spirit and Journalism Conference. When I decided to take a journalism class my freshman year of high school, I never imagined that it would lead me here. Having the opportunity to interact with student journalists from Washington D.C., and 48 other states alongside experts in the field, was a unique experience that I couldn’t have found anywhere else.

While I have attended other journalism conferences in the past, none of them have come close to providing the amount of knowledge and connections that I gained by becoming a Free Spirit. It is a once in a lifetime opportunity that I would encourage any aspiring journalist to take. The opportunity to meet and learn from prominent members in journalism like Brian Lamb, Carol Guzy, Chuck Todd, Chris Klimek, David Fahrenthold and Weijia Jiang is something that is unique to the Al Neuharth Free Spirit and Journalism Conference.

In an era where First Amendment issues are becoming more prevalent, from the TikTok ban to religion in schools, journalism is needed now more than ever. It is important that youth voices are included in these discussions. When students are encouraged to identify issues and dig into them, they are able to build a lifelong curiosity in the world around them and bring their peers’ attention to stories that need to be told. Being a Free Spirit means embracing this curiosity and daring to question and cover the events and issues that challenge America.

Encapsulating Al Neuharth’s philosophy and being a Free Spirit is to “dream, dare, do.” There is no limit to what you can achieve, if you keep trying and embrace the failures that come with success. To succeed, we must fail at some point, and being able to learn from failure is a valuable skill that I can use no matter where I end up in life. This is a message that I will carry with me as I continue my educational journey. It isn’t about where you start but about where you finish, and it is important to appreciate the process and take both failure and success in stride.