Reporting + Writing
Best of Sno Award Winner
This article follows the whirlwind of controversy and backlash surrounding the Douglas County School District's Board of Education. Following alleged closed-door meetings to oust Corey Wise as Superintendent, community members protested outside DCSD headquarters. After this protest was held, an emergency board meeting was held and directors decided to fire Wise without cause, leading to students planning a widespread walkout the following Monday. Students at my school found themselves lost in this chaotic series of events, so I covered the protest at DCSD headquarters and recapped board meetings, interviewing students, protest leaders, teachers, parents, the president of the Teacher's Union, and board members, striving to create a clear article summarizing the events that transpired in an understandable and well-rounded way. As I took photos at the protest in below-freezing temperatures, my fingers became frozen to the camera and I couldn't feel my toes, but it was worth it. That night, I spent hours transcribing interviews, researching, and writing an article to disseminate this information as quickly as possible. This story spread throughout the community in a way I never expected. My story was shared and reposted dozens of times, garnering 3000+ views. These events made national news and I spoke about covering these events as a student journalist on 9News "Next With Kyle Clark", Fox31 Denver, Bloomberg Education, and Colorado Public Radio.
5th Place NSPA Feature Winner
Valor Christian High School (VCHS) forced their volleyball coach to resign because he's gay. Numerous students and staff came forward with similar stories. This story made national news as thousands of people called for justice. I heard about a "Students for Change" protest that had the mission of dissenting to VCHS's actions regarding LGBTQ+ staff and students. Since this was such a significant topic of interest, I decided to cover this protest. To my surprise, I saw a classmate of mine protesting and after interviewing him, I learned that he had been standing outside of VCHS every day after school by himself to protest their actions against LGBTQ+ staff and students. After surviving the STEM School shooting, Gavin became a voice for change in the community, protesting for the betterment of others whenever he could. The community needed to know about Gavin's mission and I was determined to amplify his voice through student journalism.
Best of Sno Award Winner
A newly implemented mask mandate led to widespread student backlash. Social media was swarmed with plans for an anti-mask walkout and pants to counter the anti-mask walkout. Nearly everyone reposted their thoughts about the mask mandate to their Instagram stories. That night, I charged my camera, cleared my SD card, and prepared to cover this walkout. The chaos that ensued was more than I could've ever predicted. Students were shouting, music was blaring, and heated arguments were taking place. Wherever I turned, there was something new to report on. After a deep breath, I made my rounds, ensuring I covered every inch of the mayhem and interviewed students from each side of the conflict, even students who simply walked out of class for entertainment purposes. I stayed up until 4:30 a.m. to have this article ready for students the next day. Students loved it. They began to interact with this content in a major way, reposting photos and screenshots of paragraphs of my article to their Instagram stories. The section where I interviewed Diego, a student who stood in the center of the anti-mask walkout resonated the most with students. He protested against the anti-mask students and was met with harassment, homophobic slurs, threats of beating him up, and a cup of water with ice was thrown in his face. On social media, dozens of students started a movement calling for Justice for Diego.
1st Place Best of Colorado News Feature
In this three-page piece written two years ago, I explored the connection between gun violence and its effect on student mental health, using Human Right's 108 Campaign to raise awareness. I chose this piece because I feel that it demonstrates the growth in my work's complexities and depth. This piece was completed by performing in-depth reporting into Human Right's 108 Campaign, then interviewing STEM shooting survivors to gain a human, first person understanding of the effects of gun violence on student mental health. This was the first story I wrote that truly launched my interest into writing about the more emotionally tolling stories at my school. Speaking with Gavin and Tanvi moved me and I knew I found my calling to delve into the more serious issues faced by students--bringing major topics closer to home.
Best of Sno Award Winner
1st Place Best of Colorado Lifestyle News Feature
Two years ago, I wrote about a BLM demonstration that students carried out during the national anthem during graduation. I charged my camera and strapped on my mask. As a journalist, I wanted to write about the Black Lives Matter Movement and felt that by reporting on this demonstration, I could bring this discussion to my school and make a stronger impact on my community with this article. This piece marks a point of progression in my writing where I explored even more in-depth journalism. I truly magnified the scope of voices in my community, interviewing people on all sides of the issue, including administration. Working on this piece helped me to figure out how to piece together so many different parts of a story into a comprehensive article. It was a challenge initially and this has helped me with my current in-depth reporting where there are multiple facets and a load of information to sort through.
Best of Sno Award Winner
At the very beginning of this pandemic, I chose to write this OP-ED because my friend was a target of unprecedented racism in light of the Coronavirus. I gathered information from multiple in-school and online sources to construct a credible and impactful piece. I'd been so used to writing news stories that this was the first notable opinion piece I created. I felt like I was given a voice to stand up for my friend and by posting this on our media platforms, students began to realize that their words matter--and that real students face real emotional damage from these comments.