Embedded Files
This is some of my best work from this school year at the USJ. Underlined headlines are links to online articles. All of my photos and articles can be accessed through my staff profile on the Union Street Journal website.
After students at Cherry Creek High School's neighbor and feeder school, Campus Middle School, drew swastikas on themselves after a Holocaust education program, the Union Street Journal decided to make our next magazine cover story about antisemitism in schools and nationwide. Our Editor-in-Chief reported on the school angle, and I took an approach of exploring pop culture's effects on the issue. I talked to members and the sponsor of our school's Jewish Student Connections club, making sure to focus on celebrities like Kanye West and Elon Musk, who are in the center of nationwide antisemitism - Musk opened the door, through his social media platform X, for many contentious antisemitic comments, while West tweeted remarks that went viral for threatening Jews. I wrote about the conflicting dilemma of monetarily supporting those celebrities, through products like Teslas, Yeezys, or Twitter Blue. Because the regional branch of the Anti Defamation League was getting involved in the antisemitic incident at Campus, I called the Denver office. I interviewed the regional director within an hour of my original call, who provided integral expertise in the story about the widespread and tendentious topic of antisemitism relating to social media. He remains one of my essential contacts I have reached out to when reporting on issues to do with antisemitism. I hoped the story would pinpoint, in public schools, how pop culture had created such an impact in schools, especially where celebrities have such an influence of student life. I was proud to bring this important issue to the spotlight in the school - it's not just about the controversy. It's about the people behind it and their influence on the community.
This story was printed in the Union St. Journal's Fall magazine, awarded Best of SNO, and Best of Colorado (CSMA) Honors.
Less than a year after the antisemitic incident at Campus Middle, controversy erupted once again, this time at Cherry Creek's other main feeder: West Middle School. A student had shared a video rant including the "N Word" and other racist remarks. The story had already 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 with extensive use of slurs and offensive language. When the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) intervened to uphold the voices of furious parents and to 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 non-profit executive who works with my district to run courses on inclusion, diversity, and conflict prevention. I focused my article on remediation and community reactions. I wasn't just trying to demonstrate what's wrong with racism in schools - it was also important to show how people are attempting to fix it.
This story was published on the USJ's website and was awarded Best of SNO and CSMA Honors.
Journalists are not cheerleaders. We cannot only report on the games when our school is victorious. In this case, my school's hockey team was torn apart by their rancorous rivals, Regis Jesuit High School, which made for an engrossing story of sickening defeat. The game was played at a critical time, very close to the postseason, so I knew the story had a special importance. After the game, I had to confront a sour locker room and gather a variety of perspectives from players in every position. The players were reluctant to speak, and clearly quite dejected, so I had to make every question count.
This story was published on the USJ's website and won CSMA Honors.
As Gen-Z Americans become increasingly involved with worldwide politics, conflicts such as the Israel-Hamas war have created bitter ideological disputes, all the way down to the high school level. Because protests on both sides were raging all around 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 how a higher percentage young people were sympathizing with Palestine, compared to 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 in 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 AP that showed how protests just like the one I reported on were becoming increasingly common, while pro-Israel demonstrations were getting scarcer and scarcer. I was nervous to report on this issue - the war has generated a scorching divide among Americans. However, I worked for hours on bias checks to confirm that my language never leaned to either side. I received a little backlash from students at my school for being too lenient on either side - I was expecting that, given how volatile the issue is. Most of the reactions were positive, however, and a school administrator commended me on my effective non-partisanship. For that, I am especially proud of this piece.
This story was published in the USJ's Spring Magazine and won CSMA Honors.
Growing up in elementary and middle school, we often watched TED talks for class. Seeing those massive theaters filled with people, the prominent scientists and professional work, it seemed like a rare event that would never come to us locally. That's why, when I learned of a TEDx event just a few minutes' drive from the school, I wanted to share the news with my community. The organizer was a freshman at my high school, and in our interview, he shared a lot about the process of crafting a complex event as a young contributor. I also talked to two professional speakers who gave nuanced, sophisticated perspectives on the student organizer and the event. I wanted to get student perspectives, but because no Creek students had spoken at his events in the past, I reached out to students across the country (one in New Jersey, one in Southern California). It's this depth of outside sources that makes this one of my best pieces; it connects our campus to a wider world of people and professions. It also emphasizes easy accessibility to the school's population.
This story was published in the USJ's Summer Magazine and won Best of SNO.
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