An all-expenses-paid trip to D.C. and a $1000 college scholarship are included in the award granted to 51 high school juniors from each state (and D.C.) who display outstanding passion and dedication to journalism. On Apr. 20, junior Sonia Kharbanda was named a recipient of the Al Neuharth Free Spirit Scholar Award. She will represent Minnesota at the conference this summer, from Jun. 22-27.

Al Neuharth was a businessman, author and columnist who founded USA Today, the Freedom Forum and Newseum. An innovative leader in journalism because of his dedication to upholding and fostering First Amendment rights, the conference is held in his name. Kharbanda decided to apply because alumnus Orion Kim ‘24 was also selected during her ninth-grade year. “I honestly only knew about it because Orion also got this award two years ago. Since I knew someone who got it, I decided to try and apply for it,” she said.

Kharbanda worked on the application process, which was quite detailed, over spring break. “There were two short essays, two letters of recommendation and then I had to fill out a long list of some activities I participate in and some awards I’ve gotten for journalism. It was pretty similar to a college application, [just] a little bit shorter, but [has] similar requirements,” she said.

Only 51 students are selected from a large pool of applicants, making it a competitive award. “I think because of the scholarship part, and that it’s free to attend, I kind of assume that a lot of people apply because it’s a pretty good deal,” Kharbanda said.

As such, Kharbanda’s expectations were low, and she was not at all expecting to win. “I applied just thinking, wow, this is an amazing opportunity, but I didn’t really expect to get it. I was really shocked opening my email, because it said that you were gonna find out by mid-May, and I found out at the beginning of April,” she said. “I was really surprised, and I just immediately wanted to tell the people I asked for letters of recommendation, because I was really grateful for them doing that. I wanted to do something related to journalism this summer, and so I’m really excited that I get to do this.”

Kharbanda is looking forward to attending the June conference with this year’s cohort of award winners. The program will have a variety of enriching activities for the student journalists. “You talk about the First Amendment, freedom of the press, freedom of speech and I think there’s representatives from different journalism organizations. You get some guidance and advice, and then there’s a ceremony at some point,” Kharbanda said.

As the incoming editor-in-chief of the Rubicon for the 2025-2026 school year, this conference will help guide Kharbanda’s work as a leader on staff. “I’m looking forward to getting to talk to other really talented and interesting people. You always learn a lot from those conversations,” she said. “Since it’s a lot about freedom of speech and the First Amendment, hopefully I can bring back some knowledge about the importance of those and how to protect our freedom at SPA with the Rubicon, because I know that’s something I really value, and that was kind of why I was interested in it in the first place,” Kharbanda said.