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Chicago Teens on New York Times Council Hope To Shape Future of Journalism

By Justin Breen | February 11, 2016 6:18am
 Chicago teens Aleena Ismail (l.) and Julia Huebner are part of the 25-member New York Times student council.
Chicago teens Aleena Ismail (l.) and Julia Huebner are part of the 25-member New York Times student council.
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Julia Huebner and Aleena Ismail

CHICAGO — Julia Huebner and Aleena Ismail don't mind their latest reading homework assignment.

Huebner, a Walter Payton College Prep senior, and Ismail, a Northside College Prep junior, are among 25 teens around the world selected by the New York Times to join its Spring Student Council. As part of the council, the teens inform the company about what stories they "find most interesting and important" by reading Times stories daily. The feedback helps the Times choose content for its "The Learning Network" blog.

"I've always enjoyed reading the Times," said Huebner, 18, of Lincoln Park. "I'm glad I have a more formal forum to be doing the same thing.

"I don’t think the Times is necessarily directed toward a teenage audience, but I do think there’s a lot of valuable articles that teens would like to read," Huebner added. "Ultimately people who are teenagers now will be reading the Times, so it’s important to reach that demographic or just reach out to them in general."

The blog offers free "educational resources based on the articles, photographs, videos, illustrations, podcasts and graphics published in The New York Times." The students, who also could create posts for "The Learning Network," will read and recommend content through mid-May.

"It's really an honor to be representing Chicago," said Ismail, 16, of West Rogers Park. "The most interesting thing is looking at articles that other students think are interesting. Our group is really diverse."

Huebner has been a member of Payton's school newspaper, The Paw Print, for all four years, and she's serving as co-editor as a senior. She's been a longtime reader of the Times — in print and online — and was part of Payton's "Reading The New York Times" afterschool club, where students read and discussed articles in the publication's opinion section.

"It was my favorite part of the day," Huebner said.

Ismail, a news editor and staff writer at Northside's The Hoofbeat online paper, can't remember when she didn't peruse the Times. Her father, Aziz, immigrated to Chicago from Bangladesh when he was 16 and read the Times to learn about politics, the United States and to enhance his vocabulary. Since his daughter was a child, he'd send her articles he thought were fascinating.

"I've always been encouraged to read the New York Times," Ismail said. "Now I hope I can get people to read about things they don't always read about, and to go beyond the headlines."

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