Writing

I wrote this piece my junior year. It was my first story dealing with an anonymous source. It required me to be extremely careful and also revealed to me the importance and sheer extremity of the current situation surrounding federal layoffs. I reached out to federal employees at the Cuyahoga National Forest until one finally agreed to talk to me. This was a long and strenuous process, but I was determined to write about it for the kids at school who were not previously informed, as well as the community that did not understand the situation. 

I decided to write a piece on a local school shooting in my area in 2024, my sophomore year. Mariemont, located in Cincinnati, a school where I had many friends and even knew those extremely close to the incident. While local city police would not let me interview them, the school faculty said that “they weren't talking to the press at this time” and even the school's superintendent did not reply to my interview request. I was forced to look in a different direction. I found a mom on facebook who was willing to talk to me. While I may not make a national impact, she knew that speaking up could bring attention to those inflected in the district and beyond, furthering the movement to end school violence that we have seen grow to absolutely horrific levels. I found students who were able to discuss this incident and reached out to University of Cincinnati local psychologists in order to get an expert opinion. This required a great deal of sensitivity but also I needed a lot of strength to reach out to the slew of people I did. 

This article was published days after Renee Good's recent death. We were not sure how to approach such a sensitive topic. Should we write a brief or get student opinion? Would faculty and admin tell us no? We went for it. Grabbing student opinion, diverse in thought about the importance of protest or why kids at my school think change comes about. 

This article was written this year—in 2025. I've been increasingly interested in writing political briefs and was concerned that no one at my school really understood why so many federal employees were out of jobs. I was not going to stand for that, so I wrote about it. I hope that some who were previously in the dark about what was happening in Congress are now more educated on what a shutdown is, why it was happening and how it can be resolved. 

As a school, all students were enthralled yet dismayed by the quick Tik Tok ban that occured in early 2024. This article was important in keeping everyone up to date on proceedings, what was actually happening in congress, concerns, and foreign relations surrounding it. This was a pretty popular article given everyone's love for the popular Tik Tok app. 

This piece, written my sophomore year, was extremely personal to me. My own journalism teacher. My journalism advisor, mentor and favorite teacher had written a book with her husband about her cancer journey. Not even cancer but undergoing this tremendous disease while pregnant with their now 8 year old daughter, Harper. I interviewed Mrs. Brubaker and her husband, paid much attention to my wording and was extremely passionate about portraying this community event. 

This was my first article EVER for the Hilltopper—and the first in a series— called “unsung heroes,” honoring the dedicated teachers and staff at school that often go unacknowledged. I started with the cafeteria staff (this article) and then onto custodians, district officers and councilors, school nurses and special education  teachers with the goal of alerting students of the impact they make day to day, and even the small challenges they face outside of the school walls. I won a KYTJA award for superior feature for this story. I am proud of this first piece that made an impact on my peers, community members and made the staff that serve us to the best of their facility feel a bit more loved and cherished. 

One of our own publications students, since graduated, covered the 2024 Paralympics in Paris. This piece was so fun to write because it truly highlighted a dedicated student who continued her dream and made it into a career, a career that I dream of having. From early mornings to extensive interviews, this story informed students that dreams, aspiriations and hard work pays off. 

This article was one of my "Unsung Heroes" series. I think my biggest take away from writing this series is the outside of school lives these teachers and staff have that go unnoticed, and maybe they need to be noticed, especialy those struggling. This article highlighted our counciling secretary who also battles Crones disease ultimatly leading to her retairement last year. Getting to tell her story I hope brought more thankful students wandering to her office, maybe more kind words spoken in her direction. She is and will always be a key part of the counceling departement and is missed everyday. 

I absolutely loved writing this piece on my favorite history teacher, Mrs. Booth. I was honored to capture her getting nominated "outstanding teacher of the year." I interviewed her after class, but I will never forget the interview because as I was recording her interview, all these teachers rushed in and hugged and congratulated her! It was a recording I have kept forever. She talked about the connections made with students in the class, in the face of teaching AP history and how daunting it can be. 

My sophomore year I really enjoyed following the Cincinnati Reds for awhile, I liked writing quick briefs of games, discussing opponent history, odds, etc. I've never been a huge sports fan, but I enjoyed these pieces. They gave me new reporting perspective and fact based writing skill. It strayed away from features that I was so accustomed to writing. 

During my freshman year, I did a lot of briefs for differing sports. I went to a lot of events, utilized my press pass, and was excited to write one of my first sports briefs with this one. Our basketball team was undefeated so far which was outstanding, everyone was excited and this article got a lot of website attraction at the time!

I covered a few superbowls with briefs, this one in 2023 was an anticipated one. I remeber getting some over 100 views on this article whch was a great turn out for our publication. I remeber reading and researching both teams, their odds, how mnay superbowls they had previously attended. It was an interesting research process, reading predicitons, gaging the schools views on who would win, seeing people wager; this all helped fuel my article. I also loved adding suspense to the piece, who will win, who will make history, who will put it all out on the field? 

This was a piece I wrote on the anual volleyball team's "Cake Classic" tournament against several Northern KY schools in which we won. The girls were super excited and pumped for the rest of their season. This was my first ever sports breif my freshman year, but I enjoyed the exposure immensely and the opportunity to get to know these talented girls!