A loooong time ago
My work from High School
Pictures of my former newspaper and yearbook staff from high school + me and my former adviser!
I was lucky enough to be put into a journalism class as a ninth grader, and since then I've loved journalistic writing. Although writing isn't my favorite journalistic pursuit (I'm a designer through and through). My origin piece for the fully realized project was from an article I wrote for my high school newspaper. Learning journalistic style was how I got my first "real" job, writing for two local magazines, made new friends, and ultimately landed my job at The Michiganensian Yearbook. Writing is what I learned first, and it opened the door for so many wonderful things that now make me, me. Although I have always been a reader, writing did not come naturally to me. It still doesn't but practicing regularly for 6 years now has helped a bunch. Explore some of my favorite articles from high school or look at my overall portfolio below.
The Emery
The Huron Emery is my high school newspaper, and the first place I really wrote for an audience besides my parents, my friends, or my teachers. I am so grateful to have ever been published because it taught me so much and brought me to where I am.
Navigating a fine line: how teachers engage in politics
This article considered the ways in which teachers in my high school engaged with politics. It actually included an interview with a teacher who was participating in the GEO strike of 2020 (which is wild to me now as there is currently a GEO strike). I loved this story because I uncovered something that had the potential to heavily impact students but not a topic we often talked about.
I also won an award for my design of the spread this was for!
Teachers reach agreement for compensation
Another article that literally follows the current GEO strike? Anyways, this article is all about teacher pay structure. For a long time, teachers were silently protesting the pay structure they experienced by wearing the shirts seen in the picture. Many teachers, I found out, worked multiple jobs and some were considering leaving the profession due to the high stress and lack of compensation. When a teacher that I barely knew cried in front of me because she was heartbroken knowing she might need to leave because she didn't make enough money, I knew this story was important.
The woman in the center is my beautiful high school newspaper adviser who believed in me no matter what and introduced me to journalistic writing.
Moving beyond the pages: we need to uplift genuine representation now
This article is opinion, but as someone who is indecisive, I am NOT good at writing opinion articles. This one, albeit short, is one of my favorites because I think it shows how frustrated I am with the way that representation is displayed in mass media (books, shows, movies, etc.). It has gotten better since I wrote this article but as I wrote years ago, we still have a long way to go.