The student journalists for the Amherst Regional High School newspaper The Graphic are to be commended for their reporting, which has ultimately resulted in an apparent investigation into alleged transphobic behavior by three school counselors at Amherst Regional Middle School, according to reports in this newspaper.

As a journalist and editor myself, I know what it means to report on stories that may have uncomfortable blowback. I hope these students are being honored for the likely difficult work they did in uncovering alleged transphobic behavior at the middle school. The school and the journalism teacher should also be commended for encouraging very real and difficult journalism at a school newspaper; and kudos to the Gazette for amplifying and continuing reportage on this important story.

This is where the rubber meets the road in a working democracy. If I ran a media outlet in the Pioneer Valley, I would find out if any of those student journalists were interested in a summer internship.

Cassandra Hemenway

Northampton

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