Opinion Writing
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Homecoming dance starts discussion; after claims surface, students ask: what's next?
When I wrote an online news story on the accusations from the homecoming dance, someone commented, "Thank you for writing this." The news story stayed at the top of the trending list for two weeks; I knew students and community members weren't done talking about this topic. So I asked, "What's next?" This staff editorial went in depth with administrators, witnesses and girls that wanted to do something about the lack of action being taken. This was my first staff editorial, but it is my favorite opinion story.
*This story originally ran in the print edition
One nation, two realities
After the Jan. 6 riots, I realized the weight of the frustrations that piled on my mind about how far people would go when acting on false information. This story had the longest interviews for any story, even though this was an opinion story. Because this was my first serious commentary story, I struggled to balance my own voice and personal experience among my sources. But after many revisions, I found a strong story by using my sources' ideas and backgrounds to supplement my argument and own anecdotes. The use of experts in the story, like the PhD candidate and an AP World History teacher, added more dimension to the story. My source who grew up extremely conservative and self describes his formal political views as "brainwashed" gave me a visualization and relatable example to the story. This story was my first to be entered in NSPA Best of Show, and it ended up placing 5th for Social Justice Reporting.
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*This story originally ran in the print edition
Blurred lines between racial identity
A question I had been asked a lot, and found just as lost in the answer as many other biracial peers of mine, is how do I identify myself racially. What does racial identity mean to me and for others? What impact does racial identity have? I struggled with these answers, but writing about them allowed me to pursue new angles such as race in college admissions and impact of race on self-perception growing up.
*This story originally ran in the print edition