ABOUT

Hot off the press! Students flow out of their classrooms, picking up an issue of the latest edition of The Rock, my high school newspaper. Rather than opening the pages and becoming immersed in the content I painstakingly helped to curate, my peers rip pages from the issue to fold paper airplanes and the others roll the magazine up and use it as a tool to whack each other on the head.

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Not on my watch. I set out on a mission to create content that students truly care about. When I was a freshman rookie on the newspaper staff, I wrote human interest stories and placed a spotlight on a national title-holding female rock climber, an aspiring musician/rockstar, and a student who engaged in online mental health advocacy. Writing about the talent and involvement of students began to draw a new level of interest to our publication. The next year, I decided to enhance my student focus as the new Editor in Chief. Through an interview with a STEM School shooting survivor at my school, I shed light on how one student handled the mental repercussions of school shooting trauma.

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As I opened a dialogue with more students, my mindset and worldview became increasingly accepting and understanding. My connection to the community and to my peers grew stronger, cultivating a sense of compassion and commonality. Over the years, I’ve spoken to a variety of students from various backgrounds, highlighting Black Lives Matter demonstrations at our school, political protests, school board controversies, walkouts, and many others. The more I wrote about and photographed the issues students care about, the more engagement our publication had and the more people genuinely cared about the school newspaper. Most recently, I reported on a violent anti-mask walkout at my school. On social media, hundreds of students reposted my photos and screenshots of various sections from my article. By reporting on both sides of the story, I was able to teach a valuable lesson in media literacy and strengthen trust in my school’s media program.  

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Everybody has a story. I’ve been lucky enough to hear them. Every person I’ve interviewed and photographed has left me a different person. I’m composed of pieces from each person I’ve interacted with. Through my journey to make people care about the newspaper, I’ve learned invaluable lessons from interviewees about perseverance, loss, determination, and strength. These experiences have sparked a curiosity in storytelling that I plan to pursue in the future.

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By telling the real, raw stories in our school through photojournalism, students gradually shifted from asking “Wait, we have a school newspaper?” to “When are you going to publish another newspaper?” and I haven’t seen anyone hit their friend in the head with a newspaper since.

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As I reflect back upon the progress I’ve made within my school newspaper, I realize that my journalism experiences prior to high school helped to build the foundational aspects of who I am as a journalist. In fourth grade, I began writing for Colorado Kids, the children’s section of the Denver Post. I was the conventional ‘shy kid’ who struggled with talking to others. Through that program, I learned the basics of news writing, journalistic ethics, and interviews. I gradually worked my way up through that program and interviewed Temple Grandin, R.L. Stine, Marc Brown, and Cynthia Lord--beginning to find my voice through reporting and interviews. By starting my work in journalism at a young age, I’ve learned how to truly connect with others through an interview, creating a safe space for openness and transparency. Throughout middle school, I wrote news features for my middle school newspaper and as an intern for the Castle Pines Connection. These experiences were stepping stones I took as I grasped the process of photojournalism and news writing. My years of photographing and interviewing others have primed me to become the bold, outspoken journalist I am today: finding a voice for myself through the voices of others.