We started out week nine in Connecticut on Tuesday, with a stop at Horace C. Wilcox Regional Technical School in the morning, and a stop at Quinnipiac University School of Law in the afternoon.

Then, we spent a few days in Massachusetts. On our first day, we stopped at Malden High School, and then at Chelsea High School. Chelsea High School has an incredible civil action group, called “Interact,” which recently traveled to the UN in New York. We were inspired by their work…

…And inspired by our roundtable discussion, during which we talked about Chelsea High School’s students wanting more input in their education. They’re working hard to be heard, participating in groups from a student advisory council, to regional and state-wide student committees.

On Thursday, Mary Beth stopped by Suffolk Law School, where she met law student “fellows” who work to teach local students about their rights…

Law “fellows” and their students from Brighton High School.

And Emerson College, where she was invited by a man she refers to as “journalism professor extraordinaire, Manny Paraschos.” Paraschos created the Boston Journalism Trail, which we would encourage you to check out!

But that wasn’t all for Thursday…the Tinker Tour’s stop at the JEA/NSPA National Convention in Boston also began! We were there through Saturday, and met so many inspiring students, raised money for our spring tour and had such a great time being part of this celebration of journalism.

On Friday, Mary Beth also got to meet with Nikhil Goyal, who she calls “a real visionary about student voice & education.” He’s already published a book titled “One Size Does Not Fit All,” and is working on a second, titled, “Realizing Our Freedom to Learn.”