Jessica Weaver

Fairless Hills, PA

Was published more than 50 times in her local newspaper, The Bucks County Courier Times.

Weaver’s work appeared in “Reality,” a section of the paper written by high school students. “I was drawn to the distinct edginess of the section,” said Weaver, who applied to the paper her freshman year of high school, but wasn’t accepted until she tried again a year later. Also impressive, she said, was the honesty of the section’s student writers and “their ability to provoke a community response.” In her three years writing for the paper, Weaver covered such topics as obscure holidays, the death penalty, and the possibility of American women being drafted into combat.

One of her favorite pieces was called “Hola Espagnol (Goodbye English),” which criticized the proliferation of Spanish in American society. “This generated editorial responses that were published in the Courier,” said Weaver. “One woman disagreed with my article, arguing that any language is well worth learning. Another reader, a new U.S. citizen, agreed with my article, saying, ‘Learn English. I did!’ I was thrilled to have such responses because it meant that readers were interested in what I was writing.”