NARROWSBURG, NY — River Reporter Youth News Ambassadors from Delaware Valley High School attended the Delaware Valley School District School Board meeting in the district’s elementary school library at 6:00 p.m. on Thursday, November 20.  

In their first assignment as Youth News Ambassadors, Kaitlin Gelardi, Emma Simmons, Kimberly Smyser, and Ava Troup — all journalists with Del.Aware, a monthly student newspaper produced by students in Leslie Lordi’s journalism courses—applied their well-honed journalistic skills to reporting for their broader community.  

Emma Simmons, this year’s Editor–in-Chief at Del.Aware, noted that the Youth News Ambassador program provides students with a structured way to engage community members they might not otherwise encounter.  “I think that it’s very important for students to get involved and care about what's going on in the community. I feel like that's fading, especially in print journalism. So that's very important to me. And I think that building that from a young age will be very important in the future. We don't know what that's going to look like.”  

Investing in that future is what the Youth News Ambassador program is all about. In addition to providing the River Reporter with expanded coverage to perform more detailed and expansive reporting on the Upper Delaware region, the students help the newspaper understand the growing, changing interests of younger news enthusiasts. Their voices are a resource for educating the public about how young people experience and shape the world.

River Reporter Youth News Ambassadors are part of a broader initiative funded by Press Forward, a nationwide network working to strengthen local news so communities stay informed, connected, and engaged.  Locally, news ambassadors of all ages maintain a consistent and impartial presence throughout the River Reporter’s distribution area.  If you would like to learn more about becoming a news ambassador, or if your school or organization wants to collaborate with the Youth News Ambassador program, email social@riverreporter.com.