US : STUDENT JOURNALISTS SHINING

A Michigan College paper is the only source of coverage for one city.

Municipal committee meetings - the tedious minutiae of the local governance of Ann Arbor, a college town in Michigan - do not tend to draw a crowd.

But Ms. Sourine, a University of Michigan senior, was there because she had to be. As one of four city and government reporters for An Arbor's sole daily newspaper, she had biked through a steady rain between classes to take notes on the city's plans for developing a new park.

''If we weren't covering it, no one would know what's going on,'' said Ms. Sourine, 21, who also plays rugby and is taking full schedule of classes this semester.

''It's really hard to take time out of my day, especially when breaking news hits. But a lot of people rely on us to stay informed : not only students, but the people of Ann Arbor.''

FOR more than a decade. The Michigan Daily, the university's students newspaper, has been the only daily paper in town.

Since The Arbor News ended its daily print edition in 2009 - and eventually its website, too - a staff of about 300 student journalists has worked hard to provide incisive coverage about the city's police, power brokers and policymakers, all while keeping up with school.

Student journalists across the United States have stepped in to help fill a void after more than 2,000 newspapers have closed or merged, leaving more than 1,300 communities without any local news coverage.

And several young reporters have broken consequential stories that have prodded powerful institution into changing policies.

A high school newspaper in Pittsburg, Kan., forced the resignation of the principal after discovering discrepancies in her resume. After writing an article about a school employee's unprofessional conduct charges, high school editors in Burlington, Vt, won a censorship battle against their principal.

The honor and serving of the latest operational research on Great Students' work and accomplishment, continues. The World Students Society thanks author Dan Levin.