March 30, 2026
Our past three editions
March 16, 2026 Gas prices • AI chatbots • March Madness
March 2, 2026 Social media trial • March Madness • Oscars
Feb. 23, 2026 Quad God • Social media • CBS
THE LEAD
TSA workers to begin receiving pay again after more than a month
Talk to spring break travelers about how security affected their trip
Long lines and missed flights have been a defining feature of many people’s travel plans recently, as Transportation Security Administration officers have been receiving no pay for more than 40 days. President Donald Trump signed an executive order Thursday to restart officers salaries despite the ongoing partial government shutdown, NBC News reported.
What you can do —
Even as paychecks resume, lines are likely to remain long at many airport checkpoints. More than 500 officers have quit during the shutdown, with thousands more calling out from work, NBC reported. If most officers return to work March 30, lines could start to ease — but there is no guarantee on how many return immediately.
Talk to people in your community who have traveled in recent weeks or have upcoming trips planned. How early are they getting to the airport? Is your local airport affected by the staffing troubles?
Noteworthy
14-year-old runs for governor in Vermont
Interview students about political ambitions, goals
As a freshman in high school, Dean Roy will be the first candidate for governor under age 18 on the general election ballot this fall, Associated Press reported. He made his way onto the ballot by creating his own third party, the Freedom and Unity party.
It’s not the first time a student has run for governor in Vermont — in 2018 an eighth-grader sought the nomination but finished last in a four-way primary. Vermont is one of the only states with no minimum age requirement for governors, most states set a 30 year age limit.
Roy is focused on housing as a major issue in the state. He is also thinking about how he would balance school and being governor, AP reported.
What you can do —
Though there likely isn’t a student running for governor in your school, there are probably students with political ambitions. Talk to politically engaged people about the state of local politics, their goals and aspirations and what issues they would focus on if in office.
Your state may be having a primary election this spring — now is a good time to plan for that coverage, especially for hyperlocal races.
What’s viral
‘Project Hail Mary’ performs well in box offices
Talk to book, movie fans about reactions
The much-anticipated movie adaptation of Andy Weir’s book “Project Hail Mary” hit movie theaters March 20 — and fans have excitedly diving into the alien world.
By its second weekend, the film had already earned $164.3 million domestically at box offices.
In “Project Hail Mary,” science teacher Ryland Grace, played by Ryan Gosling, is sent to space on a mission to figure out what is dimming Earth’s sun. While on a spaceship more than 11 light years away from Earth, he makes an alien friend who he calls Rocky.
Through the film their friendship blossoms, they problem solve to try to save both of their planets and ultimately Grace has to make a seemingly impossible decision.
What you can do —
Both the book and the movie are based in real science — the star Grace and Rocky are visiting is a real star, Rocky’s biosphere is based on actual scientific principles and the artificial gravity Grace relies on is theoretically possible, though it hasn’t quite been done yet, Scientific American reported.
Talk to science teachers and science lovers in your school to see what they think of the science in the movie. Did they notice the unbalanced centrifuge that scientists are calling out online?
See if anyone read the book before seeing the movie. Which do they prefer? Are there any plot holes?
100 years of Quill & Scroll
International nature of Quill & Scroll continues
Though the majority of Quill & Scroll charters are granted within the United States, the international part of the Society’s name rings true. Over the last century, charters have been granted in almost 40 countries.
On various occasions, Quill & Scroll leadership has even been able to travel internationally to oversee induction ceremonies. In 2000, then-Executive Director Richard Johns traveled to Budapest and Hungary to induct 25 students into a Quill and Scroll charter at the Center for Independent Journalism. His trip was written up in the Quill and Scroll magazine.
Share your Quill & Scroll story
In honor of the centennial, Quill and Scroll is collecting testimonials, memories and stories from Quill and Scroll from student members, advisers, former staff and friends.Thank you for taking a few minutes to share your experiences on this form! Your answers may be used in marketing and communications materials.
Please share with others in your network — we want to hear from everyone.
IT’S AN HONOR
It’s always membership season
Don’t forget you can nominate members year round
Now is the best time to order for your induction! Not only will you beat the ordering rush, you could also have Quill and Scroll function as a journalism club or volunteer organization. (And don’t worry, if you’re worried that having chapter activities will just add another to do time to the list, we have several suggested chapter activities in “lesson plan” format so students can lead these!) While you’re ordering, don’t forget to include any cords and other Quill and Scroll materials and memorabilia.
We haven’t changed the ordering process from last year. For those wanting to ditch the paper version, you just need to select the form based on how you would like to pay. We have one version for credit card and another version for check or purchase order. (We’ve added buttons for ease of finding these.) As usual, credit card payments are charged $4.49 per order for processing.
If your initiation is the week of April 20 or before, now is the time to order! Please note that we will be out of the office the week of April 13 for the JEA/NSPA National High School Journalism Convention so please allow extra time for processing,
Take advantage of our advisers-only resource area
Quill and Scroll has expanded its advisers-only area, which includes bellringers and lesson plans for advisers who have initiated members within the past school year.
Advisers, if you inducted members in the 2025-26 school year, check your email (and your spam!) for a message from [email protected]. That email should contain your login information. Please be sure to accept cookies when you log in! If you have trouble, you can contact us at [email protected]. If you have inducted members this school year, we update access every few weeks, so keep an eye on your email.
Members-only area highlight
Student media staff appreciation day
As the spring semester drags on, take a moment to appreciate all the hard work of your staff. There are many ways to thank everyone for their efforts, and this staff appreciation note lesson plan is just one of them.
WVM, PSJA contests finalists to be announced this week
We’ve had a few unexpected delays in both contests. As soon as the judging is complete, we will send advisers of the finalists an email.
Thanks for your patience!
Benz Scholarship
Applications open for $250 adviser award
Quill and Scroll will award the $250 Lester G. Benz Scholarship to an adviser who undertakes a professional development activity over the summer or in the 2026-27 academic year.
The award can be used to attend a National High School Journalism Conference, to pay for tuition for a university course in a relevant subject area, or for a summer workshop, the JEA Summer Advisers Institute or a local summer workshop in your state, to name a few.
Applications are now being accepted. Deadline is April 10, 2025.
The award is named after former Quill and Scroll Executive Director Lester G. Benz.
Student Scholarships
National winners in Quill and Scroll contests — such as the Yearbook Excellence Contest or the International Writing, Photography and Multimedia Contest and the Eye on Ivy Editorial Writing Contest – are eligible as seniors to apply for Quill and Scroll scholarships: the Edward J. Nell Memorial, or the George and Ophelia Gallup awards.
The Richard P. Johns award is available to all Quill and Scroll seniors, including those who did not enter contests. The scholarships are awarded for the freshman year only and can be paid in two installments.
All scholarships can be used for tuition, room and board at any college or university. Recipients must major in journalism or a related area of communications. The scholarships are awarded for the freshman year only and are paid through the university or college bursar’s office.
Scholarships amounts can vary. The Quill and Scroll Scholarship Committee will determine the amounts based on the applicants’ qualifications and recommendations
Please see this link to apply.
The 2026 scholarship application will close May 8, 2026.
Applications are open for the 2026 Vanessa Shelton Chapter of the Year
Has your chapter been active in Quill and Scroll this year? If so, it’s time to apply for the Chapter of the Year.
Chapters must have had initiated members in each of the past three years.
Applications are free and winners will receive a plaque, $250 for the classroom, four free memberships and honor cords and one member spot on our Student Advisory Board.
During the past 99 years, Quill and Scroll has granted charters to about 15,000 schools around the world. When a school’s journalism program receives its charter, students in the school begin a Quill and Scroll chapter there. Quill and Scroll does not dictate how active a chapter should be, but the Chapter Manual does provide some guidance on the value of an “active chapter,” the activities it may engage in, and its general goals:
“The chapter can accomplish these goals:
(1) inspire members of the staff to greater efforts;
(2) attract students of higher ability to publications/media work by offering them journalistic recognition and honors;
(3) provide incentive for the development of the journalism department and the improvement of school publications/media; and
(4) secure greater recognition of journalism work by students, school officials and the community.”
The deadline is April 16 and the winner will be announced mid-May. The application form is on our website.
2026 YEC open for submissions
Submissions are due Oct. 1
The 2026 Yearbook Excellence Contest is open for entries through the start of October. The cost for each entry is $8. High schools will be divided by size — Class A for 1,000 or more students in grades 9-12, and Class B for 999 or fewer students in grades 9-12. Middle schools are in one “class” category, so advisers do not need to select a class.
The categories vary widely — including many forms of photography, writing and design. There are also submission opportunities for beginning staff members and middle school yearbooks. New this year is the Social media journalist category, designed to recognize excellence in use of social media.
YEC is an all-digital contest. Entries (PDFs of pages and/or JPGs of photos) will be stored online, and publications shared the URLs of those spreads, images or folders containing multiple files on the entry form. Because all work must be in published form, we do not accept Google docs. You may submit PDFs that are uploaded to Google Drive, but not unpublished work written in a Google Doc.
School of the New York Times Summer Academy opportunity
The School of the New York Times Summer Academy is one of the nation’s most competitive journalism programs – and Quill and Scroll members get an exclusive discount. ($500 off and refer/bring a friend incentives).
Summer Academy is open to high school students (grades 10-12 and Graduating Seniors based on the grade the student is entering in the Fall 2026 school year). Students must be 15-years old by the first day of their session. Program graduates have been recruited from some of the top journalism schools in the nation. Please see this link for the course catalogue.
All students applying to Summer Academy for the first time are required to complete an online application. Returning students do not need to reapply. As a member school, Quill and Scroll chapter members receive priority enrollment.
Additionally, the winning entries from our News Writer of the Year (Category 16 in Quill and Scroll’s Writing, Visual, Multimedia Contest) are eligible to compete for a School of the New York Times scholarship to its Summer Academy. This scholarship (valued at $7,500) includes room and board but not transportation to New York City. Student entries will be evaluated by faculty from the New York Times.
To unlock your member benefits and request your Quill & Scroll discount, please click here.
Spring convention registration closes, but on-site registration still available
If you just decided to attend, you can register onsite for the JEA/NSPA National High School Journalism Convention in Minneapolis.
Attendees can look forward to hundreds of informational sessions. Come “Find your North Star” at the JEA/NSPA spring convention April 16-18. The Hilton Garden Inn, which is next to the Convention Center, can be reserved using this link until April 1.
Quill and Scroll will celebrate its centennial year at the Thursday evening adviser reception.
Registration open for Gloria Shields NSPA Media Workshop
Dallas hosts one of the nation’s largest (and hottest) summer journalism workshops, June 29-July 2.
The temperatures and the ideas will sizzle in Dallas at the Gloria Shields NSPA Media Workshop.
Registration will open on March 2 for the 2026 workshop, set for June 26-July 2 at the Hilton Richardson Dallas.
The registration fee is $140 per student and adviser. The optional Sunday evening bonus class is $20 for those arriving early.
Check the workshop website frequently for updates as workshop plans are finalized. NSPA will send an email when workshop registration and hotel reservations open.
Free Speech Forum opportunity
FIRE is hosting its third annual Free Speech Forum, a free, week-long summer program in Washington, D.C., taking place June 21-27.
During the program, students will:
- Learn about the First Amendment and the principles of free speech
- Participate in interactive workshops and debates
- Develop public speaking and advocacy skills
- Connect with fellow students from across the country who share an interest in free speech
- Hear from leading free speech advocates and experts
The program is completely free, including housing, meal and all programming. Students in grades 9-11 simply need to apply. Applications are due March 30.
Find more information and the application here: https://www.fire.org/free-speech-forum
Upcoming Weekly Scroll pause dates
We will pause the Weekly Scroll during the weeks of April 13 and April 20 since we will be at conventions when we normally would amass the Scroll.
Some advisers and students have found linking to our Weekly Scroll page beneficial.
We will publish our final Weekly Scroll May 4. We will resume publishing next fall in early to mid September.
Thank you for understanding.
Just a thought
Advisers often tell me the electronic order processing is an improvement over the paper form. This is great, but some don’t remember to send in their membership lists. We need your help on this!
We always want to make sure our membership lists are accurate. We have several gaps and we will be reaching out to those who we don’t have membership lists from during the next month. Please note, we search for the school and adviser in our emails prior to reaching out. If we contact you, we do not have the list.
If you haven’t shared the membership spreadsheet with [email protected], please do at your earliest convenience.
Thank you!
— Lori Keekley
