Originally, when I walked by the school cafeteria and saw a student painting, my mind immediately went into human mode immediately. When I went back later in the day though, there was a different student working on it.

I walked in with a camera, talked to the painter, and learned all about the project, got quotes about the mural, its benefits, and its motives, and took the featured image of this story. 

This story was a challenge because I had to find out about a completely unfamiliar topic and search for interviews in a department I ahve never worked it. Yet, I am still happy with how it turned out because I felt it properly covered the mural and got perspectives from painters, student leaders, and a faculty adviser.

As fat snowflakes started to fall outside my living room on the last Wednesday before spring break, I wasn't thinking about potential snow days and a lengthened break. I was on Instagram, checking in with choir members in my community about the status of their flight leaving the next morning. 

A big challenge in this story was finding interviews from students, because most of them were worried more about their flight than responding to my questions, which I had to send remotely.

I talked to two students and the choir adviser, and I'm proud of how quickly the story covered the issue, even when everyone was off of school at the time.

We are always open to news stories submitted from the public, so we may properly cover the issues of Creek that go unnoticed by our relatively small staff. In the case of this TEDx article, I was contacted by a Creek freshman, alerting us to his event the following Fall.

I didn't take up the story to promote the event, rather to spread the organizer's message to our student body. I interviewed him, along with three of his speakers and applicants. I wanted to get student perspectives, however because no Creek students had spoken at his events in the past, I had to reach out to students across the country (one in New Jersey, one in Southern California). I also talked to two professionals about their speaking experience. It's this wide depth of outside sources that makes this one of my best pieces, it calls out to a wider world beyond our campus.

Throughout the 2023-2024 school year, Creek introduced many new efforts to involve students in campus cleanups. They made club-sponsored cleanups, like Cross Country's pre-season effort, and brought in Advisory cleanups. 

Rather than study hall, advisories would use their weekly meetings to clean specific regions of the campus. These advisory cleanups, which I took part in, were the ultimate inspiration for the story. Barrelling towards our Winter magazine's release date, the newsroom had to devise plans quickly to use our pages. I had to steam through this article, even as I approached the stress of finals week, but I'm still very happy with how it turned out. 

I interviewed a few administrators to get their perspective on the school's plan to aid in the trash crisis. I also talked to an environmental science teacher, who gave me insight on the ecological effects of trash in our campus. Finally, I got valuable quotes from maintenance staff to ask about how they were managing the issue directly.

This story won Best of SNO.

One day in my band class, a student walked up to the podium and announced they were founding a new chapter of the National Music Honor Society at Creek. In the past year, I have learned to find stories wherever I go, so my mind immediately went into reporting mode. I quickly found several enthusiastic people who were willing to share their background and passion for the arts. I went to the interest meeting that afternoon and interviewed two of the club's student leaders, a prospective member, and the faculty sponsor. I also learned that the Honor Society planned to offer volunteer music therapy at a local retirement center. I requested an interview from an employee there the next day and got contact information for the volunteer coordinator. She shared with me the benefits of music therapy with mental health and comfort for the elderly, and I believe the addition of her perspective enhanced the story greatly. Student clubs are incredibly important to feature to show the depth of our school's extensive diversity and interests.

My school's crackdown on vaping was spearheaded by the staff's installation of new vaping detectors in certain bathrooms on campus. The administrator I interviewed, who led the project, was reluctant to disclose information about the detectors, including location, which made it a difficult story to research. Despite the roadblocks, I pushed on and gathered interviews that informed my exclusive exposé. Because numbers of teen smokers are rising, this particular issue is of tremendous relevance to high school life. I talked to an anonymous vaper, who offered the perspective of someone who might be at risk of discipline because of the detectors. They alleged that staff members conducted searches by crawling under stall doors. This information helped explain the reasoning behind the vape detectors because they provided a less intrusive solution to the problem of vaping. But, as with most technology, malfunctions have been common according to the administrator I interviewed, and I talked to students who expressed fear about false alarms and unjust discipline. Finally, just days before the story was printed in our Fall magazine, I also squeezed in a last-minute interview with a mental health worker to show the school's other solutions to teen addiction.