NewsNews writing can be hard to put your sparkle on as a writer being often short, concise articles produced in a timely manner. However, with a balance of both, I have worked to write truly meaningful news stories that make an impact in some way whether that be at HHS or in my community.
In April 2022, I wrote about the violence going on between Ukraine and Russia and how that affected some of my Ukrainian and Russian peers. This interviewing process turned out to be possibly one of the most unique that I have experienced. I had no personal connection to the story or any ability to relate to what these students were feeling. I firstly interviewed several Ukrainian students, I carefully considered how to address the topic as I knew it was sensitive. One student broke down in tears at my question regarding her family still living in Ukraine. This was the first time I had experienced emotion in this form during an interview. I learned that covering sensitive topics right in the middle of the event that makes it sensitive, is a difficult task. The best I could do tackling the story was thoughtfully consider my questions and my responses to their answers. I then went on to also interview Russian students who addressed the stigma they had experienced in the past several weeks. One student said that it had become a joke with some of his classmates, making fun of him or placing blame. Getting to hear both of these perspectives in the walking distance of one hallway was eye opening. I realized that I didn't even blink an eye when I was assigned the story, knowing that I could easily walk downstairs in my school building and speak to several students that were closely related to the topic. I go to school with and am surrounded by students every day that have radically different experiences than I do. Read the full story here. See more of my news writing below: |
FeatureFeature writing quickly became my favorite freshman year. I discovered my love for it when I had my first successful 30 minute interview with a student that had a service dog at my school. After this initial experience of telling a story that otherwise may not have been heard, I was hooked. I've learned over the years that that most impactful thing you can do as a reporter is learn to listen. Even the quietest of quiet students will open up when they feel they have an ear that truly wants to hear what they have to share.
Towards the end of my junior year I wrote about a student who had recently passed away to leukemia at my school. This was my first experience covering something as sensitive and difficult as death. It was also my first experience writing a feature article without being able to interview who I was actually featuring. However, I came away from the interviews knowing more about her than I think I could've if I actually got to speak with her. I had many interviews with her close family and friends in which they cried and laughed throughout remembering all the little things about her, recounting their dearest memories and in turn painting a picture of who she was as a person. As a reporter, I wanted to cover the topic as a way to remember her, but also to provide a small form of healing for her loved ones. This was a difficult task that I did not take lightly. Several students and family members I reached out to to talk to politely declined my request. I learned the difficulty once again that comes with covering a sensitive topic right in the middle of what makes it sensitive. However, this story was maybe one of my most rewarding as a writer. I felt that I had done something for her loved ones, many of whom reached out thanking my staff for the article. Read the full story here. See more of my feature writing below: |
SportsI shied away from sports stories to begin with in fear of a lack of knowledge about the subject. While feature writing will always be my strong suit, I have come to love sports writing as well.
In September I wrote about one of our star varsity basketball player's thoughts about his upcoming season and college commitment. He did not want to reveal yet what colleges were on the top of his list so I went more on the college visit, recruitment route. It's always interesting to write about something you know nothing about, which was basketball and college athletics in this article for me. I've come to believe that we form better questions in these conditions as we ask things the general population would want to know as well, in contrast to already being a pro on the subject. Read the full story here. See more of my sports writing below: |
OpinionOpinion writing is definitely not my strong suit or something I truly made time to excel in. However, I think it is a valuable skill as a journalist as we always work to leave our personal biases out of our work, opinion writing gives us a chance to share our true feelings.
My sophomore year, during the pandemic, I chose to write an opinion article on Snapchat as social media felt really relevant to me during quarantine. I had discovered that being home all of the time provided even more of an opportunity to be on my phone which was not a healthy habit. I enjoyed writing about a topic that I felt would be very relevant to other high schoolers and young people at the time. This is an example of a topic that I chose because of my perspective, in contrast to possibly an adult choosing an opinion topic, Snapchat would most likely not be at the top of the list. However, as it says in the infographic I created, 74% of people in the 15-17 age group in the US used Snapchat at the time. Read the full story here. |
Finding Sources
To the right are examples of the very beginning of my writing process. I brainstorm what questions I envision the story to answer and ask around to find the best sources for these questions.
In this case, I was writing a story on diversity in my high school and community, I wanted to approach the topic sensitively, but also genuinely. To be prepared for this, I formed a very long list of possible sources and wrote out what my big questions were. From there, I picked four students and started interviewing. If one of those interviews didn't give me enough information for my article, I did an extra interview. From there, with so many sources and so many interviews to weed through, I only used my best quotes from each. I have learned that not many people get excited by a four page long article, so I have challenged myself to make two pages my max. I hope to continue learning how to make my stories meaningful, but also engaging. My biggest takeaway from my current interviewing/reporting process is my ability to cover anyone. I have grown in that it used to absolutely terrify me to interview a stranger. Now, the only people I interview are strangers. It can be intimidating, but it is fascinating to hear what my peers or community members have to say who I have never spoken to before. One value I stand firm in as a reporter is not going into an article or interviewing process with expectations of what I hope my sources will say. My goal as a reporter is not to pull a story from students, but to find the story, listen to the story. This includes forming my questions in an open ended way, rather than leading to an answer I may be looking for. |
Interviewing Resources
The presentation to the right I created to teach the new students on our staff this year the best interviewing tricks I have learned. Our school implemented a new phone policy, so I wanted to show students easy ways to do everything through their laptops.
We also used this presentation to go over important lessons such as asking for permission before recording. |
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Our Motto: Every Person Has a Story
Our motto in HHS Media is: Every person has a story. My junior year I started to make this motto my mantra. I searched for the tricky stories, I was always on the look out for story ideas from my peers. I then learned to strengthen my writing by searching for multiple sources to tell the full story.
Since I was a freshman in high school, I've always been quiet and more reserved, so interviewing was initially my nightmare. However, knowing this feeling all too well, I used it to learn how to make others more comfortable in an interview. This goes for both sides, I was often paired up with more reserved younger students on our staff as their mentor. I have successfully helped new staffers feel more confident as student journalists and have worked to guide them in the ways I was throughout my first year on staff. |
J-Camp Experience, JMU
I have attended the journalism summer camp at James Madison University for two years. Both years I have been eager to strengthen my reporting and writing skills. Over the summer of 2022, I got to work with and learn from communications professor and news media adviser Kelly Furnas from Elon University. My group and I produced a piece on a local small business in our community and went through the editing process with his guidance.
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