My Reporting
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/The Washington Post, 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.
This photo essay displays the unity and excitement in Unified Basketball's second annual game. My aim was to capture this stunning display of school-wide support and compassion through the lens of my camera. After publishing these photos in our newspaper, the SSN (severe special needs) class was thrilled, especially Jatin, the student in the photo to the left, who squealed with joy and had the biggest smile I'd ever seen.
After a year without much school spirit due to COVID, students at my school were eagerly anticipating this basketball game against the Falcons. My intention was to capture not only the game's action, but player emotions and student excitement. I knelt on the floor, moved around the gym, and stood on top of the bleachers to capture all angles of the game.
My school has a rampant pandemic of eating disorders. Every day, unhealthy standards and rhetoric can be heard in the halls and classrooms. I wanted to change this. My approach was to open up a dialogue around eating disorders and recovery in hopes of helping those who are struggling and educating those who may have friends/family who are struggling. I sat down with a student who underwent extensive recovery/treatment for her eating disorder and she shared her story as well as the Instagram account she runs to help herself and others with recovery.
By trying a new form of media, I was hoping to make this content even more accessible to students at my school. If they lack the attention span to sit down and read an article, students can listen to this 12 minute podcast on their drive to school and this conversation can still has the power to make a positive impact on them.
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Admittedly, this was a stretch outside of my comfort zone. I'm not particularly an 'in front of the camera' type of journalist. By starting a podcast, I was able to learn how to use new technology and equipment.
This podcast was met with positive reception from the community, where I received messages from some students about how this podcast made them feel like they weren't alone in their struggle with an eating disorder.