Since the first edition of The Hartford (Conn.) Courant 242 years ago, its leaders have made consistent efforts to attract young readers. From hiring young staffers to publishing sections written by and for teenagers, the Courant, during its long history, has modeled a number of successful tools to attract youthful eyes and to create space for youth to contribute to society.

Perhaps today's newspaper industry can learn from this rich past.

In 1764, Thomas Green was only 29 when he started The Hartford Courant. Green's able assistant was Ebenezer Watson, 20, and in 1766, Green hired George Goodwin, a nine-year-old printer's devil, according to historian John Bard McNulty's 1964 book, "Older than the Nation." While Goodwin's employment at that age would be frowned upon now, he later bought the Courant from Green's widow.

"Green varied his news offerings with poetry and other material designed to be 'instructive,' " McNulty wrote. "On March 25, 1765, the Courant carried on its front page the alphabet, in Roman and italic, with a suggestion for a new letter, and with a pronunciation key for each letter. In doing so, Green started a tradition. The Courant still prints poetry in its weekly column, 'This Singing World,' and it still stresses education, as in its sponsorship of the Junior Classical League for young people interested in Greek and Latin classics."

Yet McNulty missed perhaps the Courant's most impressive student project ever -- Parade of Youth, a four-page Sunday section written by and for Connecticut teens that ran from 1935 to about 1975.

The inaugural edition of Parade of Youth -- published Nov. 24, 1935 -- featured the banner headline: "Iowans Pilot Own Boat Down River." At first, Parade editors from a Washington, D.C., syndicate office chose stories like this one about three landlubber teens from Council Bluffs, Iowa aiming for the Gulf of Mexico.

But within three years, Parade evolved into a local newsgathering organization, where each week correspondents from nearly every high school in central Connecticut received the standard byline rate -- 15 cents per inch -- to write news and feature stories about their high schools.

Courant education editor James F. Looby started advising Parade of Youth in 1937, and was appointed its editor in 1939. He held that post until his retirement in 1975. During his tenure, Looby cultivated a large stable of newspaper and yearbook editors.

Judging by Parade's 1955 style guide, he held his students to Associated Press standards and demanded quality. He also created scholarships as an additional reward. Looby, who once trained for the Roman Catholic priesthood, made efforts to marry education and newspapering that won him a citation from Connecticut Gov. John Dempsey in 1967.

Through radio shows, television appearances and the formation of the Junior Classical League, Looby worked to boost teens. In 1957, one such East Hartford High School freshman named Michael Pernal joined Parade of Youth. He remembered the experience at Parade of Youth as empowering.

"I was a cub reporter," said Pernal, now acting president of Eastern Connecticut State University. "This Parade of Youth was a wonderful thing. It helped me learn how to write. It taught me discipline. You were motivated to do the work because you got a byline."

In 1970, the Courant listed 135 students as reporters. Parade of Youth was discontinued, and Looby died in 1982. Only this January 2006, as part of budget cuts, did the Courant discontinue its long-running Golden Key high school writing awards ceremony. 

Historian McNulty, now 85, said he hoped the cut would be re-examined. He had his start as a high school journalist in the 1930s. He was a missionary's son in Shanghai, and covered his prep school for the China Press and the North-China Daily News.

"I think that experience on a scholastic newspaper helps one to think objectively both about what goes on in school life and what also in the surrounding community," McNulty said. "It was a valuable experience."