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Reporting & Writing
Throughout my three years on The Chronicle Staff at Grandview High School, I have had the chance to cover a variety of stories across all of our departments. Some light, some heavy. From covering the creation of new classes to discussing socioeconomics and addressing both tragedy and life within the Grandview community. During my first two years on staff, I discovered a love for Opinions and Editorial writing, but always strove to diversify my coverage format as I also grew my Features portfolio as I became Editor-In-Chief and more involved with all sectors of The Chronicle.
Features
Womens' Literature: Advancing Grandview's English Ciriculum
With the announcement of a new Women's Literature class, young women across the Grandview community rejoiced. The administration was finally listening to our cries for a more diverse curriculum, and for many, this was the first step in the right direction. For this story, I focused on the human emotions associated with the new class. This included what motivated Mrs. Russo to push for the class' creation, as well as the opinions of various students surrounding its inception. I attempted to diversify my sources by interviewing boys and non-binary people to get an accurate measure of the entire student body's feelings toward this class.
Generate Me A Story: OpenAI’s ChatGPT Explodes in Popularity
ChatGPT, a word that makes even the most experienced English teacher quake. With this story, I pushed myself to take a nationwide headline and localize it to an angle centered on my school's community. To do so, I spoke with various teachers in our English department, focusing specifically on what they were doing to prevent students from utilizing the software for malicious intentions. This story was a challenge to me because it was the first feature story that I had written during my senior year, and I struggled slightly with localizing a national issue to a local lens and finding insightful sources to speak to.
The Fight for Period Prosperity
This was the very first feature story I wrote as a part of The Chronicle's staff. I had heard of two girls, Lauren Campbell and Annalise Austin, who were campaigning to Liberty Middle School - a feeder to Grandview - to get free period products placed in all of the bathrooms. I attempted to focus on the human element of the story, particularly on their motivation behind the campaign and detailing the steps they were taking to make their dream a reality. I also tried to highlight some of the system issues that women face surrounding period products, like its taboo subject matter and The Tampon Tax to give more detail to the story's angle.
Secret Service Agent Turned School Teacher; Scott Wright Profile
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It is not every day that you learn a former Secret Service Agent is now teaching Criminal Justice & Law at your high school. My main goal with this profile was to capture Mr. Wright's experience throughout his time in the Secret Service while giving unique examples that the average person may not know about working in federal law enforcement. I am especially proud of the details that came out of this interview, and the structure I was able to create through this story. Some of the intimate details I included within the story included Mr. Wright's face-to-face interactions with past presidents and reconnaissance missions he was sent on. As well as being an extra in Wakanda Forever.
Curriculum of Equality
During my first year on staff there was a large-scale meeting between several different departments in school and our Student Equity club focused on increasing representation throughout curriculums, but particularly in English and Social Studies courses. This was also my first time dealing with a large transcript, as the entire meeting was over an hour long and included over 15 various speakers between teachers and student participants. This story taught me how to find the strongest quotes out of a large interview and how to address prevalent issues in our society through a community-centered lens.
The Pack Reacts
Within this story, I covered the variety of reactions to the 2020 election results. I was very particular in my question wording for interviews for this piece to guarantee that I wasn't asking any leading questions or inputting any of my personal political beliefs into the feature. I also tried to get a variety of sources, both male and female, from multiple grades, while also featuring opinions from students that favored both the political parties and candidates. I also tried to focus on a variety of different reasons that different people favored one candidate over another while perpetuating an undertone of unity found in American identity that surpasses party affiliations.
Artist Profile: Noah Burgan
Bubbly. Enthusiastic. Unique. There are a million words that can be used to describe Noah Burgan and her art style, but it is no easy task. A vibrant person fueled to create by the feminist mystique and a love for color and abstract designs, I tried to capture Noah's personality as best as I could within this profile. I attempted to define her art style, her motivations and inspirations, and her future art goals. I also included several pictures of Noah's art in a photo gallery below the story to showcase the wide variety of mediums she uses, as well as to show the large range of her ingenuity and creativity.
Probation: Teachers' Most Stressful Time Period
The inspiration for this story was sparked by a 3-page letter The Chronicle received in the last quarter of my sophomore year. The letter's author was angry over the non-renewal of a certain teacher, and their letter expressed the reasons they believed this teacher should not have been let go. While we did not comment on this particular teacher, I and another writer put on our investigative journalist caps and worked to produce a piece that cleared up any confusion around the teacher probation process within our district. We also interviewed both administration and teachers currently on probation to understand both the technical aspects of the process and the emotions that were tied to it.
Opinions & Editorials
In Response to Overturning Roe V. Wade
During my first year on staff, there was a large-scale meeting between several different departments in the school and our Student Equity club focused on increasing representation throughout curriculums, particularly in English and Social Studies courses. This was also my first time dealing with a large transcript, as the entire meeting was over an hour long and included over 15 various speakers between teachers and student participants. This story taught me how to find the strongest quotes out of a large interview and how to address prevalent issues in our society through a community-centered lens.
Editorial: Ms. Richards' Impact and Legacy
Ann Richards was a stable light in the Grandview community for 25 years; since the school's opening. She taught for 48 years, mere weeks up until her passing. To say her departure left a gaping hole in the community is a grand understatement. For this story, I noted several of the unique, physical details in her room, and tied them to vivid memories I have of her from this past year. I also tried to note intimate details of her life, highlighting her kind, giving nature. While words cannot perfectly capture what Ms. Richards was like, and the impact she made on our school community, I tried to put grief and memories into words to paint a vivid mural of the wonderful person I am so honored to have had as a teacher.
Thrifting: Gentrification or Eco-Friendly Solution
For this piece, I weighed the pros and cons of thrifting when considered on a moral scale. I introduced many pros like thrifting being a way to reduce your carbon footprint, reduce the amount of clothing reaching landfills, or as a way to avoid shrinking trend cycles and fast fashion. I then contrasted this by bringing in gentrification and weighing how thrift shops were created to serve low-income communities. I then wrapped up the piece by not placing a good or bad label on the potential ethical issues of thrifting, but instead just left it up more to the reader to decide for themselves.
January 6th, 2021: One Year After the Capitol Insurrection
This story was published on the 1 year anniversary of the Capitol Insurrection. I broke down the day of the Insurrection by noting different times during that day that certain events - which I sighted reliable sources for - were occurring, while also adding specific details beyond just the event name. Additionally, I then introduced an extended metaphor for democracy through a candle and flame, which I put in italicized font and connected to the timeline of events. In the end, I then tied back to the current state of the candle, or US democracy, before making a call to action.
Editorial: Addressing the Devious Licks Challenge
I wrote this story just a few weeks into my first year as the Opinions Editor, and only my second on the Chronicle's staff in total. My ultimate goal was to establish how the Chronicle stood firmly against the vandalism that was occurring within Grandview. I was able to achieve this by using short, concise sentences with direct language. I also highlighted the level of destruction within the bathrooms by noting the objects that were being vandalized, along with the response administration took. I also provided background context to the event's online basis by providing reliable sources and included pictures that showcased the level of destruction.
Sueing with Entitlement
My advisor came to me with the inspiration for this story. A woman was suing Pop Tarts for falsely advertising their Strawberry Pop Tarts because they didn't include enough strawberry filling. And all for a casual $5 million in damages, of course. With this story, I attempted to take an absurd, national-level story and analyze it more from a moral perspective. I included several statistics to prove how high the quality of life is in America, including sighting our low infant mortality rate and long life expectancy.
Sports
Climbing to New Heights: Rosario Cornell, National Qualifying Competitive Rock Climber
For this story, I profiled an athlete for a sport that may not be very mainstream - rock climbing. For this story, I focused both on Rosario Cornell's most recent successes at The American Scholastic Climbing League's Regional competition, her previous National qualification, and her future plans. I also tried to provide more insight into rock climbing as a sport as I explored both the mental and physical aspects of the sport, the different event types, the physical skills necessary to compete, as well as the growing climbing community.
Girls Basketball Secures 6A State Championship Second Year in a Row
This was the first sports story that I had every written. I attempted to go beyond just the winning stats of the game and highlight the deeper, human emotions of the players. Specifically, I centered my story around various players' reactions to the win which featured quotes that were taken minutes after the game. I also included several photos from the course of the game within the story in order to break up the larger text length. Additionally, I added a full photo gallery at the bottom that features all of my photos from the game.
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