Read My Work
Feature
Snow day breakdown
On my first year on the journalism staff, I was tasked with writing a story about snow days. This story pushed me to do my first big interview: an interview with the superintendent. As a shy sophomore, the nerves in my stomach grew each day it got closer to the interview. My talk with the superintendent ended up going very well and I grew in confidence. This story helped me improve my interview skills and grow as a writer.
Celebrate good times
Despite all the hard times the country was going through due to Covid-19 sweeping the nation, I looked for a story to give students good news and hope for the future. A few days beforehand, our yearbook staff and newspaper staff earned prestigious awards from the National Scholastic Press Association (NSPA). This news provided me with a perfect uplifting, feature story while also posting timely content.
Speak up against inappropriate power
After our school's band teacher was arrested for inappropriately approaching and emailing a female student, my friend and team member, Katina Sutarov, and I decided we needed to cover the story. Our adviser gave us the advice to cover the story to "help, not hurt." We decided to take the angle of covering how to help someone and what steps to take if another person was approached inappropriately by a person holding a position of power. This was my first longer form story I wrote and I was very proud of how me and my team member covered the story.
The new "normal"
After a months of quarantining and social distancing, the staff decided to write a story of the effects Covid-19 left us with and how it has impacted us. Even though Covid-19 left us with some awful side affects, there was also silver linings that shined through. My co-writer and I wanted to show the good that came out of such a terrible disease. Working on this story helped to improve my interview skills because I talked with a nurse and about 10 students to hear their side of the story.
Techno increase
Since Covid-19 swept the nation, the use of technology increased, while being stuck at home. My Co-Editor-in-Chief decided to cover the increase in technology and the effects left on us. Due to the increase, social skills have begun to dwindle because most talk through social media instead of in person. This story taught me importance of searching for statistics to back up arguments. In order to defend the argument of social skills, we worked on providing readers with statistics to add more reliability.
Opinion
Later start time debate
In March, my school district was tossing up the idea of starting school later in the day. With this being very timely content, the staff and I felt it was very necessary to cover this issue. A fellow team member and I worked on writing a pro/con story for the print issue coming out at the end of March. This story taught me to always work closely with my staff members to make sure we are on the same page. For the pro/con story, I had to work with the team member writing the con side of the story to make sure we covered their arguments and counter them.
Equestrians: join the team
While learning how to write opinion stories on my first year on staff, my adviser gave me the advice to write something I'm passionate about. For as long as I remember, horses were a huge passion of mine. My mom and I recreated the high school equestrian team in order to continue my Michigan Interscholastic Horse Association journey. Some schools don't let their students to participate in this association since it's "unfair" because not everyone has the opportunity to own a horse. This argument is irrelevant and needed to be proven wrong since one doesn't need to own a horse to join a team. This story helped me add passion into my writing because writing about horses is something I'm very passionate about.
Social media negatively impacts body image
After writing the centerpiece story about the impact social media leaves on teens, the staff and I decided to write the staff editorial about social media and body image. I was tasked with writing the staff editorial; a task I was very happy to do. As someone who constantly feels insecure about my body after seeing those attractive, fit models, I was hoping to do the story justice. After writing the story, I was very proud of the outcome. My hope was to help those who suffer from the same issue by giving ways to cope. With opinion stories, I feel it's important to include a "call to action," so people can help themselves or the community.
