For the second year in a row, a member of Canyon Ridge High School’s newspaper, The Riverhawk Review, has been selected to represent Idaho at the Al Neuharth Free Spirit and Journalism Conference in Washington, D.C. This June, staff reporter Cameron English will travel to Washington D.C. to have a once in a lifetime experience.
The conference includes an all-expenses-paid trip to Washington, D.C., and a one-thousand-dollar scholarship to any college of the chosen participant’s choice. Only one high school junior from each state is selected to attend the conference. The student chosen must have a “free spirit,” which Freedom Forum defines as “someone who is creative, or courageous, or risk-taking or persevering or thinks differently or displays some other quality that could be associated with being a free spirit,” and one who “dares to dream and do.”
“It feels incredible to have been selected for the 2025 Al Neuharth Free Spirit Conference. I have only been doing journalism for this year, so it is a huge honor to have been chosen to represent the state of Idaho,” English expressed.
“Everybody likes to think they’re ‘free thinkers’ and can form their own opinions, but Cameron is actually able to think critically about an issue and come up with an informed opinion despite what others around him think. That makes him an asset on any newspaper team. Cameron is one of the few people I know who loves what he loves regardless of what his peers think. This kind of authentic individualism is very rare,” says The Riverhawk Review’s journalism teacher, Dustin Henkelmann.
The purpose of the Al Neuharth Conference is to inspire these “free spirits” to pursue careers in journalism and media, as well as provide them with the opportunity to connect with other students, professionals, and organizations that share their passions.
Tayhia Hoskin, last year’s Idaho representative describes the conference like this: “Each day, we attended 2-3 panels with different professionals from all the different fields of journalism (photojournalism, investigative, broadcast, and even podcast journalism) and other past free spirit alumni, who all explained what their jobs are like and how they got there. At the end of every panel, there was free time to speak with the panel members.”
Along with daily panels, “the Close Up Foundation Staff [an organization that works with the Freedom Forum to operate tours] would take us to dinner, and then we could go on a tour of a historical site in D.C.. On these tours, we visited the Lincoln, Washington, and Jefferson memorials, the Vietnam War Memorial, and a few others,” Hoskin further explained.
This is the second time a reporter for The Riverhawk Review has been chosen to attend the Al Neuharth Conference. Hoskin joyfully praised, “I am so incredibly proud and excited for him! I had a really good gut feeling when he expressed interest in applying for it; he’s an amazing writer. I’m also extremely excited that my ‘D.C. Buddy’ is another member of our team; that’s such a mind-blowing accomplishment, and a lifelong bond. I hope he has the best time ever when he goes!”
An accomplishment like this one is a major accomplishment for CRHS’s newspaper. Henkelmann beamed, “The fact that The Riverhawk Review has had a member represent Idaho at the Al Neuharth Conference two years in a row means we have some pretty cool people on our staff. We’re doing something right here, and I love being able to see my students have a once-in-a-lifetime experience like D.C..”
English shared, “I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t surprised to hear I was selected for this conference. I am super excited to get to go to Washington, D.C. since I’ve never been there, and I am looking forward to the opportunity that I have been given with this conference. I am nervous, but also optimistic.”
