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News without diverse representation isn’t news—it’s a news bubble. Exploring and including diverse perspectives is not just window dressing, and it’s not just a box to check off. It’s at the core of what we do as journalists. Life experiences shape the ways people encounter and engage the news, so it’s up to us to make those experiences part of the news.
As a reporter and photojournalist, I have tried hard to respect diverse perspectives and experiences through the stories I write (many of which are featured in this and other sections of this website). Over the last four years, I have reported on big issues and events that affect our community: women’s sports, pro-choice marches, the labor movement, and Denver's MLK Marade. Closer to home, I have reported on students’ conflicting views of the Israel-Hamas war, the lessons of the Holocaust and the resurgence of antisemitism, current threats to immigrants, and racist and antisemitic symbols and videos that appeared in our feeder middle school. To make my reporting better and more responsive, I have maintained close contact with members of our school’s Black Student Union, Jewish Student Connection, Muslim Student Association, and Latinos Unidos. In the wider community, I have forged contacts with the Denver chapter of the NAACP and the Mountain States Anti-Defamation League. With the help of their perspectives, I can make my stories more authentic and representative.
Beyond my own writing, I consider it essential to promote open conversations in the newsroom to make sure our publication and website feature diverse viewpoints. As an editor, I have led conversations about how our writers can make our magazine and web content more inclusive. Consequently, our reporters cover issues like ESL instruction for immigrant students, the school’s Unified sports program, the spectrum of neurodiversity among our students, new courses in LGBTQ+ literature and African American history, mental health challenges and resources, and the prejudices that trans students face. Whether or not I have worked on all of these stories myself, I have prioritized using my role as an editor to support an environment in which these stories are not just included, but also valued as essential to news coverage.
STORIES OF DIVERSITY
STORIES OF DIVERSITY
When I started brainstorming for The New York Times Student Open Letter Contest, I knew I wanted to write about American history, not only because I’m really interested in it, but because it’s under fire right now—especially, as I discuss in the essay, race in American history. My parents both teach history at local universities, and my mom specializes in the history of race in America, so it’s always been a topic of discussion in my household, and one that I think about often. Through my political and historical socialization I’ve developed some strong opinions, like this one: Donald Trump is wrong to assume that it's just "DEI wokeness" to talk about the historical achievements of people of color and the obstacles they have faced, and he needs to stop hiding this history. I used the Tuskegee airmen as a quintessential example because of the weight of their accomplishments and my longtime fascination with their history. Although this piece is an op-ed, it was important to me to to stay grounded in the facts, and every source I consulted provided rock-solid evidence that our nation benefits from a full and frank accounting of our history.
This story was one of ten winners (out of 9,946 submissions) in The New York Times Student Open Letter Contest.
With such a charged issue as the Israel-Hamas war—one that polarizes people worldwide—merely reporting on it risks contention. But for this article, I covered an event that sought to promote civil conversation about the war. It was a discussion between a local rabbi and local imam, speaking to a crowd of diverse students. The speakers focused not on hate or war, but on peace and recovery. I found it inspiring that both sides' most important goal was to make the community feel safer. In accordance with the overall message of equality and harmony, I made sure to give voice to all "sides" of the discussion: religious leaders, students from Jewish and Muslim clubs, and a variety of spectators. It was important to me to write this story because it wasn't just about the war but instead about solutions. Read more about this story and its significance to my journey as a reporter in the Personal Statement tab.
This story won First Place (Breaking News Coverage) from CSMA and Best of SNO honors; it was also featured in my winning CSMA Reporter of the Year portfolio.
This was my first time reporting on a protest, so I was new to the challenges it raised: finding good angles for photographs, grabbing interviews in a moving crowd. I was excited when I found interview subjects, including marchers representing a Denver women’s rights group and Iranian rights activists protesting unethical executions in their home country. This demonstration gave me the opportunity to cover an important issue, but it also allowed me to gain practical journalistic experience.
The sign pictured on the right was the exact voice I wanted in my photography: a voice of angry defiance. I co-wrote this article with fellow staff writer (and current co-Editor-in-Chief) Izzy Krauss and Editor-in-Chief Carly Philpott.
Less than a year after an antisemitic incident at Campus Middle School, Cherry Creek's largest feeder, controversy erupted there once again. A student had shared a video rant including the "N word" and other racist remarks, and the story had gained traction in local news and social media, so I felt obligated to publicize it to Creek students from the high school angle. But then, a group of Campus students posted another video online, filled with slurs and offensive language. When the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) intervened to support furious parents and help raise awareness, I immediately contacted the organization by phone. To my surprise, the president of the Denver branch answered me directly, and I improvised a crucial interview on the spot, during which she shared the group's plans to prevent further racist incidents. I then interviewed a student from Creek's Black Student Union, a school administrator, a district communications representative, and a nonprofit executive who works with my district to run courses on inclusion, diversity, and conflict prevention. I focused my article on community reactions, but also on remediation. I wasn't just trying to demonstrate the problem of racism in schools—it was also important to show how people are trying to fix it.
This story was awarded First Place (Breaking News Coverage) from CSMA and Best of SNO honors.
Gen-Z Shares Fervent Advocacy in the Israel-Hamas War - Global News/News Feature
As Gen-Z Americans increasingly engage with world politics, conflicts like the Israel-Hamas war have incited bitter disputes, all the way down to the high school level. Because protests on all sides were raging in my community, I knew the story was important to my peers and my school. I didn't want to take an unoriginal approach that simply analyzed Creek's opinion on the war. Because of Gen-Z's heavy online presence, I devised an angle to discuss Gen-Z's social media advocacy and young people were likelier to sympathize with Palestine than any other age group. I interviewed Creek students on all sides of the debate and protesters at a pro-Palestine rally in downtown Denver. Research was critical for this article, as I also found valuable information from national polls that showed a large difference between the generations' sympathies in the conflict. To relate back to the rally, I also found stats from the Associated Press that showed protests just like the one I covered were becoming increasingly common, while pro-Israel demonstrations were getting scarcer and scarcer. I was nervous to report on this issue, since the war is so viscerally polarizing. However, I worked for hours on bias checks to keep my language from leaning to either side. I received some backlash from students at my school for perceived bias, which I was expecting, given how volatile the issue is. Most reactions were positive, however, and a school administrator commended me on my non-partisanship. For that, I am especially proud of this piece.
This story won Third Place (News Feature) from CSMA, and a featured photo won Honorable Mention (News Feature Photo and Caption) from CSMA and Third Place (Single Spot News Photo) from CSPA.
PHOTOS OF DIVERSITY
PHOTOS OF DIVERSITY
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