The Huron Emery
Just the beginning
Above is my first story published in The Emery. It was on this publication that I experienced the thrill of writing articles. This publication is the reason I am who I am.
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The Emery is where I learned how to be confident in a leadership position and how to truly connect with others. It is because of The Emery that I have a paid writing job and that I now work on The Enthymion. I am so lucky to have these experiences and grow up within this environment. The Emery is why I will be trying out for a job on my university's newspaper. The Emery is why I am making this portfolio and I am truly thankful.
In and out (of class)
During my freshman year was the first time I published an article but I was still just a journalism student. Journalism was an alternative elective for me but I loved it so much that I signed up for another semester of advanced journalism and went to journalism summer camp. It was not until my junior year that I was able to be in the newspaper staff room and I genuinely loved it so much. I learned efficiency and how to work under pressure due to my experience as Online Editor-in-Chief. I am proud to have brought the website and social media platforms to a level recognized state-wide and nationally. This was not just my effort but the effort of the entire staff and community.
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This school year I have been unable to secure a position in the newspaper classroom because of requirements by the Career Program, a International Baccalaureate program that I am a part of. Regardless, I have been able to come to the newspaper zoom room by building a relationship with my teacher and being accountable for my missing work. Mrs. Badalamente, my adviser, often forgets that I am not actually in the class. I really miss being with the entire staff but I know that I am still able to connect and work with staffers.
Considering diversity
Within many student-led publications the adviser position is dominated by female advisers. While I love all of this female leadership, this potentially translates to a lack of male student journalists. Within The Emery's editorial board there are only two male editors out of 11 editors in total. I have been trying to alleviate this problem within our own staff by mentoring/guiding some of our male staffers. Quinn, who is now our sports editor, joined through the journalism class and I was able to work with him on sports and other articles. Elliot was another student who was in the journalism class last year. He was not able to join staff this year but I worked with him on the articles he submitted and I am hoping he can join next year. Lastly, Vis who is a first-year staffer is genuinely so on top of everything. I have been working with him to help him join yearbook as he is already on newspaper staff. Through growing these relationships I hope that they (and all other staffers) feel comfortable and come back to staff multiple years in a row.
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We have a highly diverse staff with students representing almost all of the population of Huron but that is not reflective in the editors. There are six Asian editors (four from South East Asian decent and two from East Asian decent). We also have one editor representing middle-eastern decent and four editors who are White (coming from various European backgrounds). Ultimately, we as editors do not represent the vast Black and Latinx community on our staff and at our school. We are not completely sure why we have not had interest from these communities for editor positions but we are also working to build these relationships from our staff members.
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From what I have experienced in student journalism, the floor is dominated by students whose political views skew to the right. While everyone should be welcome, we can not have a good publication without having representation from both sides. This year we have been able to show both sides through one particular staffer but we are continuously wanting to expand our staff. In the fourth issue of The Emery, we had two students do a vaccine pro versus con. The idea was around whether it should be mandatory or optional to take the vaccine. We received a lot of feedback that our readers were surprised we would publish a vaccine con but ultimately our goal is for our readers to see views from all sides.