Writing and Reporting
News Writing - The Emery
Cheating Culture
I wrote this piece in response to a group of Advanced Placement Chemistry students being exposed for having a "cheating ring." This piece was a big difficult because the administration refused to comment or give me information. Additionally, I was not reporting on the people who did the act but rather the response from the community and commenting on the culture of cheating at Huron. I extensively considered the way in which I used vocabulary as this was a situation that was close to people I knew and because it was an extremely sensitive topic for everyone involved. I interviewed the AP chemistry teachers, other teachers who deal with cheating, a few students, and attempted to interview the administration.
Teachers reach agreement for compensation
Last April, teachers in Ann Arbor Public Schools were waiting for their compensation after feeling the brunt of step freezes for a few years. I interviewed five teachers as well as the President of the Ann Arbor Education Association, AAPS' teacher union in order to understand all of the differing perspectives on the matter. Ultimately this is a heavy topic for many teachers as this is what they depend on to live their lives. This story was developing as I was writing it and the decision on compensation came towards the end of the writing process. Subsequently, my article changed a bit but I kept working towards telling the entire story. The information for teacher salaries is supposed to be public knowledge but many of the information is not. I struggled with getting information from sources as they also had to think about protecting their jobs. Note: I discuss this page design on my design tab.
Transition to hybrid learning for AAPS
This is truthfully the most anticipated and highly debated topic in my school district. Ann Arbor Public Schools students spent all of first semester completely virtual even as surrounding district tried out hybrid learning. I have been covering this story mostly online but I published this piece for the fourth edition of The Emery with the most updated information. Two days after, I interviewed AAPS superintendent Jeanice Swift and have since reported on the Emery Extract and written another story for thehuronemery.com. This story will continue to update throughout the second semester and I am honored to be bringing this news to the community.
Fun fact, one of Huron's librarian said that my reporting was better than MLive, the major news source for Ann Arbor.
Feature Writing - The Emery
The girl behind the mask reveals her story
One of Huron's counselors reached out to my adviser Sara-Beth Badalamente about a student who had been experiencing bullying. I immediately volunteered to write the story but found a barrier between Ashley and I, a language barrier. Ashley, the student who had been experiencing bullying at Huron was a Japanese exchange student and spoke little English. I recruited two other journalism students who spoke Japanese to act as translators for Ashley. Within the three interviews I did with Ashley, she cried at least once every time. This topic was incredibly sensitive for her which is why I made sure to portray her and her situation as best as I could. In order to help readers connect to Ashley, I used her first name throughout the story. Even though this breaks journalistic style, Ashley was being dehumanized and I needed for people to see how heartbreaking the result of bullying is.
COVID-19 by the states
This article would fall under "alternative story telling" as this is really four individual stories. Each story used at least one interview and was meant to represent what COVID is like around the United States. Connecting with sources was the most difficult part about the reporting. When I began with this idea, I knew that I wanted to get a variety of perspectives but coming into contact with everyone was more complicated than I thought. I really enjoyed writing this article and understanding how COVID has changed the lives of so many people.
Note: I discuss how I designed this page within the "design" portion of my portfolio.
Navigating a fine line: how teachers engage in politics
After the article I wrote about the teacher compensation agreement(above), I became really interested in the laws and regulations surrounding teachers. This article particularly took a lot of research in laws and court cases to understand how teachers are restricted within politics. The title comes from the idea that there is a lot of gray area when it comes to politics in English, Art, or History classes. Much of the content within those subject areas results in political conversations but teachers have to be extremely careful to not relay their own opinions or ostracize any students. I interviewed teachers in a variety of subject areas and also included information about how teachers can engage in politics outside of school.
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Note: I discuss how I designed this page within the "design" portion of my portfolio.
Opinion Writing - The Emery
"Soul": showcasing a larger racial issue within Disney
To substitute for interviews, I always include research in order to provide evidence for my opinions. "Soul" is only the latest movie representing a trend of dehumanizing characters of color. While there were many parts of the movie I appreciated, as a person of color I couldn't sit by and see this act continue without speaking out. The best opinion articles come out of passion and interest in the respective topic and I believe that my reporting and writing style demonstrates how important this issue is to me.
Note: the graphic used is allowed through The Emery's subscription to Tribune News Service.
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Moving beyond the pages: we need to uplift genuine representation now
The lack of genuine representation within our media is an extremely important societal issue. I especially see this problem within the public school system. The point of this article is to inform the community and also hopefully encourage them to push back against times where they see lack of representation in their community. Opinion has never been my favorite section just because I sometimes find it hard to demonstrate the strong sense of opinion that is needed. With most of the opinion articles I've written, they have encompassed some idea of diversity or lack thereof. These are ideas that I am passionate about and will continue to be passionate about.
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When I was writing this article, I considered the ways in which I am advocating for genuine representation. Every issue, I write reviews for The Emery Reads, a reoccurring section focused around bringing book recommendations to our readers. This issue, I focused on Black authors and in the past I have done a Asian American feature and a Native American feature. This is incredibly intentional as I believe that these voices aren't being highlighted enough and as The Emery is a source of information, we have to be the ones to promote genuine representation.
Issue 4 of The Emery Reads. Note: all photos are licensed through creative commons or Tribune News Service.
Sports Writing - The Emery
Being a summer sport athlete under COVID-19 social distancing restriction
This story was incredibly important during COVID times considering athletes have lost so much. This article focuses on the reality of being a travel athlete under strict COVID restrictions. Michigan was particularly strict by closing down skating rinks and other areas where athletes would typically play. Many athletes drove to Ohio to keep practicing. Even if sports aren't "mandatory," it is such an important part of high school culture to many students making this story equally important. I have not written many sports stories for The Emery because I don't have a huge interest in sports. Despite this, I am working to write more sports stories for thehuronemery.com as well as for The Enthymion. Note: I discuss the design of this page on the design tab.
Online stories found on the "Digital Media and Web tab"
Chrono - The Enthymion
Note: "Chrono" refers to the chronological coverage section of our yearbook. This section goes through the months of the school year covering student life and academics.
Featured artist - Sophie Larsen
This is a article I did originally for The Emery and was later re-done for The Enthymion. I really appreciate this article because it's really the only article I have from the 2019-2020 yearbook but it piqued my interest in the yearbook world. Additionally, when I interviewed Sophie Larsen, I realized how kind and inspiring she was. I wanted to get this across within my article.
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Fun fact: I took the photo that is featured with the article as well as a few of the other photos below it.
A change of heart
There was a similar article to this one in The Emery where the focus is around the heart surgery. I wrote this story specifically because I wanted to focus on Mr. Sumerton's (the subject of the story) impact on the students and community of Huron. Most chrono stories we have are smaller (300-400 words maximum) because we do not have a lot of space in the book. Regardless, this story demonstrates how Mr. Sumerton has an impact and what it means to be him.