It took former Arizona high school students Vaughn Hillyard and Sophia Curran 10 months to finally get a controversial story published in their Thunderbird High School student paper. But it was worth the wait. The two are winners of the Arizona Freedom of Information Sunshine Award for battling censorship when their principal and the Glendale Union High School District refused to publish a front-page story that criticized a decision by school officials. That issue of The Challenge went to press with a blank, eight-and-a-half inch square of white space. We spoke to Hillyard about the importance of the First Amendment and why he did it all. Winning this award was probably the last thing on your mind when you were in a legal battle with your principal and district for the right to publish a story. What gave you the courage to pursue it when you could have easily walked away? For Sophia and me, we never imagined anything like this taking place because we thought the school district would have the integrity to resolve the issue in a reasonable manner, but when they kept throwing up roadblocks through their intentionally ineffective appeal system. There was no doubt in our mind that we would push forward. We felt we were fighting more than censorship of the school newspaper. We believed we were fighting on behalf of the students, teachers, the school, and the community. We couldn't fathom the possibility of letting Principal Matt Belden and Superintendent Jennifer Johnson get away with silencing the voices of others. Was this your first encounter with censorship? Yes. It was hard to comprehend why Belden and Johnson would choose to censor the article. We pressed hard to give them the opportunity to comment in the story and explain their takes on the testing system, but instead of encouraging the journalistic efforts of the newspaper staff and simply answering its questions, they chose to censor the article. I think they thought the story would go away and censoring was the easiest route of avoiding questions, but ultimately they found themselves in a much bigger issue. The Arizona Republic ran the story for the entire community to read. It must have been very upsetting. Being censored left me scratching my head more than anything. Their reasons didn't add up. It made me question their motives. There is a reason someone tries to censor material, and it's important to try to understand and uncover those reasons. Sounds like a great lesson on the First Amendment. Before the incident, I honestly knew only the basics of our First Amendment rights. We learn about them in government classes, but I don't think you realize its importance until it directly affects your life. In our situation, it was freedom of the press, and I think it's important to magnify these sort of situations because it is important for the wider community to realize the role the Constitution plays in our everyday life and why the First Amendment includes freedom of the press. Principal Belden says the article—which was critical of a test used to assess teachers—was biased. What's your side of the story? Teresa Hauer was the reporter that wrote the article. In his original arguments, Matt Belden didn't use bias as one of his reasons for censoring. He and Jennifer Johnson's argument that the story was biased was one of the most indefensible assertions they could have made. Every reporter has a natural bias with almost any story they cover, but it's the ethics of keeping a story balanced and fair to both sides that is crucial. For this story, Teresa did just that. She was able to get a little information about the tests from Belden when she first questioned him, and she used nearly all of that information in order to make the story as balanced as possible. Belden, Assistant Superintendent John Croteau, and Superintendent Jennifer Johnson refused to answer questions about the test after multiple attempts by Teresa and myself. How could they argue a story is biased when they were given multiple opportunities to provide a balanced take on the testing system? Additionally, not all of the quotes included by teachers were negative toward the testing system. Did you receive support from your family and the community? As the situation unfolded, the support by our parents, teachers, friends, and extended community rapidly grew. When The Arizona Republic published pieces on our situation, people in the community that we had never met before wrote letters to the editors in support of our cause. It was evident to people that we were fighting a good fight, and I'm so appreciative that I lived in a community and with a family that had my back and Sophia's back. It was the support of the community that gave us the faith to continue to push forward. Was there anyone in particular who stood out? I couldn't be more thankful for our adviser Sheri Siwek. She played such an integral part in my senior year of high school, and we formed a lasting relationship because of her trust in us. She stood by us despite having to sit in front of the principal and superintendent of the school district. She was put in an extremely difficult situation, and I think she deserves more credit than anyone else in this. She understands the importance of journalism, and even more, she understands the importance of student growth and enrichment. I will never be able to thank her enough. Was it worth the 10-month wait to finally get the story published? It was definitely worth the 10-month wait. Sophia and I had the opportunity to become better friends, and we were able to expose some of the practices of Superintendent Jennifer Johnson and the school district. I hope that we were able to send a message to not only the individuals directly involved, but it's my hope that others across the state and even country heard our story. There would be nothing better than to hear others fighting to preserve their freedom of speech and press. Yes, it took 10 months, but the story was printed. It took the community and legal pressure, but I think our story was able to bring individuals in the journalism community together around our cause. Is journalism in store for your future? I am now at Arizona State University's Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication. I'm pursuing a career in journalism, covering politics and in-depth news.