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Reporting and Writing
With each story that I write, I feel like I get better and better each time both as a writer and a loyal journalist as well. Looking back at the edits and feedback given to me along the course of the writing process per a story allows me to take a deep dive into what I can improve on for the next story and how I'm able to catch it faster. Scroll through this section to explore the writing journey journalism has taken me on so far.
News
The effects of COVID-19 were felt in enrollment over the past two years leaving students and faculty to wonder what the case is for this year. It was valuable to me to work on this story because of the connections between its elements such as the statistics followed up with explanations for them.
When it was first announced that most colleges across the nation were going to convert to a test-optional format for their applications, it was vital to cover this history-making news with how the seniors in my school community felt. This is a prime example of how I use breaking news in the real world to apply to my the community around me, giving them a voice too.
After three months of getting acclimated to restrictions of in-person learning, I interviewed students and faculty to get tehir insight on how they were doing with their "new normal." This gave me the opporutnity to exentuate the quality of perspective in journalism because sicne everyone is different, I got to explore the ins and outs of people's experiences.
It was crucial to get students' opinions and thoughts on how their first day on in-person learning went after doing virutal learning since March 2020. I had to interview people and write a story quickly since this was a "breaking news" event, practicing the skills and timeliness of a real-world journalist.
In the middle of virtual learning, when COVID-19 continued to surge, a survey by my school reported an immense amount of students feel they got too much homework. This was important to cover because this concern was the opposite of what my school was aiming to do to students: overload them. Especially during a time when students could not be physically with each other to voice their opinion, this story was important in order to remind them that their input is still being acknowledged.
When almost 400 people in my school community showed up for the first-ever drive-in flu clinic, I knew it was worth covering once I heard my peers constantly talking amongst themselves about it. Especially since I got to experience the drive-in myself, I feel like I was really connected to this school history-making event.
Sports
This is a story I am currently working on that reflects what really goes on in the minds of athletes playing under COVID-19 restrictions in 2022, down to the specific feelings they feel for each restriction. It is a Google Doc because it has not beenn published yet.
After the boys and girls varsity air rifelry teams won ILH championships, I knew I had to cover this story as soon as possible. I interviewed people and formed my story in under one and a half weeks, so this story really tested my timeliness as a journalist. I also think this is one of my best stories yet.
This story was a very special place in my heart because it is the first story that I ever wrote as a journalist. I remember being so scared to make a mistake, but looking back, even though I didn't make mistakes and did not exemplify as much as I would have exemplified with journalist values today, I am so proud that I was able to produce something in such a timely matter, especially being new to the field. The story was about what kind of rituals athletes tend to do before a competition or game.
This was only my third story I had ever wrote as a journalist and I'm proud to say that I covered a contreversial subject amongst my school community. The story was about half my school brought in a new girls varsity basketball coach after the long time previous coach quit unexpectedly. People were skeptical about his effect on the team, but his opinion along with the basketball teams' statements served otherwise.
After my controversial story written in December 2019 (story listed above), I was very excited to write this story because it proved the people who were against the new coach very wrong. In this story, I report on the event of the girls varsity basketball winning two championships. It was almost like a follow-up story to the story that I had previously done, which was a real-life predicament of a professional journalist.
Features
I wrote this story inspired by by Japanese teachers project that she had my Japanese program do, which was to make as many decrorated Onigiri, or rice balls, as possible and each one posted to social media would feed one child in Africa. It's a very inspiring deed that she was doing and I wanted to cover it as a features story so that her actions would be recognized massively and publicly.
During quarantine, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, I noticed that a lot of special events were being dismissed because of the chaos in the world. One of those events being birthdays, I wanted to recognize some of the solutions that people have in the world so that others who may not be aware could now celebrate it in a safe and fun way.
What is the issues during the COVID-19 pandemic and when everyone was quarantined was that people had more time on their hands than they ever did before. As a journalist, I wanted to use my journalism skills to report on the different ways people could be passing the time and you're the best I buy that I could in order to make people a little happier during this chaotic time.
Editorial
Although I have only written one editorial in my time as a journalist, I am really proud of this one. This is an editorial of the first Editor-in-Chief letter with my co-Editor in-Chief as well as my opening opinions and advice to our fellow student body. We started the school year off by talking about the stress that students may be under as we were under it too, and how people can overcome that stress in the most efficient way possible.
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