Feature
Meeting of the Minds
The 2006 Young Reader Conference promotes a spirit of collaboration.
By Angie Clark and Dawn Kitchell
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ST. LOUIS CONVENTION & VISITORS COMMISSION
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With the apt tag line “Confluence of Ideas: Bringing Together the Best Minds in Youth Readership,” the 2006 NAA Foundation Young Reader Conference is scheduled for July 22-26 in St. Louis.
When Meriwether Lewis and William Clark built Camp Dubois at the confluence of the Missouri and Mississippi rivers just outside St. Louis, they were preparing to embark on a monumental journey to find a water route to the Pacific Ocean that would help bring prosperity to the United States.
In September, our nation will celebrate the bicentennial of the Corps of Discovery’s return to St. Louis and the success of the expedition – maybe not in finding a direct water route, but in uncovering another America: one of diversity in its people, animals and landscape.
Just as Lewis and Clark gathered at the confluence more than 200 years ago to prepare for a journey into an uncharted territory, newspaper professionals from across the United States will gather again near that confluence in July to continue another journey – a journey to readers.
The future of the newspaper business holds many unknowns. We face competition from a variety of media, a decline in adult readership and the ongoing challenge of establishing the importance of youth readership even within our own industry.
In coming together for their challenge, Lewis and Clark each brought strengths to the team. And the combination of those strengths brought success. Such is the vision for the 2006 Young Reader Conference. By bringing together Newspaper In Education (NIE) and youth content professionals, the NAA Foundation hopes to strengthen our expedition toward the same goal – young readers.
Like Lewis and Clark, NIE and youth content professionals should embrace the opportunity to work together. Lewis wrote to Clark that while their adventures would likely be tiring, dangerous and yet rewarding, there was “no man on earth with whom I would feel equal pleasure in sharing them.” Clark responded in kind: “This is an undertaking … with many difficulties, but my friend I do assure you that no man lives with whom I would prefer to undertake such a trip.”
Indeed, there is no better place for newspaper professionals to launch their joint expedition than in the Gateway City. The image that most people associate with St. Louis is the Gateway Arch, a monument that represents expansion, growth and opportunity. The 2006 Young Reader Conference holds the promise of the same for newspapers across the country and around the world.
St. Louis sits on the Mississippi River, with the monumental Arch looming high above the skyline. Rides to the top of the Arch allow people to view the vibrant downtown, the ebb and flow of the river and the suburbs and land just across the Mississippi in Illinois.
It is fitting that the downtown area of St. Louis, which is in the midst of a full-scale revival, should play host to a conference that brings NIE and youth content professionals together to explore the revitalization of newspapers.
Down the street from the Arch sits the epitome of revitalization and yet another “Show-Me State” landmark – Busch Stadium. Slated to open in 2006, the new Busch Stadium demonstrates that a vision for the future can, and should, nod to both history and heritage.
St. Louis is a gateway to more than the West – it is a gateway to new opportunities. When the 2006 Young Reader Conference commences this summer, new opportunities most surely will abound.
The 2006 Young Reader Conference Committee invites youth content and NIE professionals to meet us at the confluence in July to embark as partners on a renewed expedition toward young readers. We can’t think of anyone we’d rather join in this challenge than the best minds in youth readership.
For more on the 2006 NAA Foundation Young Reader Conference, including program highlights, visit www.naafoundation.org.
Angie Clark of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and Dawn Kitchell of the Missouri Press Association, along with Erin Orr of The State Journal-Register in Springfield, Ill., are the co-chairs of the 2006 Young Reader Conference. They can be reached at angieclark@post-dispatch.com, kitchell@yhti.net and erin.orr@sj-r.com.
