When a new Grandview App was introduced, there were many concerns about how it may be used and how it would impact the day-to-day lives of our students.  I wanted to take a different angle and approach when tackling this story, deciding to investigate why our administration felt the need to implore the app in the first place.  I was curious about their plans on how to use it and have addressed any concerns from the student body.  This entry was also one of the first times our school's Broadcast Journalism program, GVTV, and the school newspaper, the Grandview Chronicle, purposely combined to tackle a story.  Making a video knowing that it would go up on the Chronicle's website was certainly a unique perspective, but I learned how to work with different people, not just in my program.  Today, I fondly look back on this video, especially around the reporting and writing, given the unique task. 

As one of the darkest chapters in human history, it's important we talk about the threat of fascism and learn from our history.  I continue to promote this education and I'm dedicated to providing new perspectives with the stories I tell.  This is no exception.  Speaking with a survivor of the Holocaust and reporting first-hand accounts is a privilege like no other.   What I really took away from this experience, however, is that so many people want to tell their stories, we just have to listen.  That shift in perspective opened my eyes and allowed me to really dig deep into the people who touch our community. 

Elections have never been more important in our country.  While the local congressional election in the Grandview area - Congressional District Six - was not nearly as competitive as the national race, local elections are often overlooked for that exact reason.  I have always had a fascination with politics, and to be able to combine that into a journalistic feature was really special.  Despite pushback from our school district (see Law, Ethics, and News Literacy), I went out of my way to contact candidates of both major political parties.  I learned a lot from that experience, from working through legal challenges to working with political campaigns, I chose to include this work because of the ability to navigate through those obstacles.  

I dropped the ball last year.  For the inaugural Hall of Fame class, the tripod I had was broken.  This year was an opportunity to make up for those mistakes.  With a photo camera in one hand and a video tripod in the other, I highlighted some of the bright lights that graced the hallways of  Grandview High School.  I opted for a lot of different shots when gathering b-roll for this piece.   I also didn't have interview questions prepared, so everything that I asked came from right off the top of my head.  This also marked a bit of a shift in my view of interviews:  while doing my research is absolutely necessary, especially when interviewing and talking to people I may have never heard of, building a conversation and a relationship with these people was so much more important.

It was a snow day when I found out.  I woke up to a message from my advisor, "Let me know if you need anything."  Ms. Richards was my English teacher the year prior.  The entire second semester she was in the hospital battling cancer.  Prior to the school year she died, I asked if she was able to get a team picture of the Colorado Avalanche since they won the Stanley Cup that summer.  She was a season ticket holder and had team pictures from their Cup wins in 1996 and 2001.  She told me she hadn't because she was in the hospital with cancer.  I learned that there's no right way to remember a person.  I still wanted to honor the memory and the impact she left on every single person that met her. 

This has to be one of my favorite stories I've ever had the privilege of telling.  And it almost never happened.  All the interview audio was filmed on my phone because the microphone port on the camera I was using was broken.  I wasn't able to run back and get a new one because my interview had to be on a tight schedule.  My quick thinking and improvisation saved this story, which was well-received by our community.  It was so heartwarming to be able to show the impact that our Dream Week had not only on our Dream Week Kid, Finn but also the organization that helped support his dream. 

I was in gym class playing dodgeball when I heard about this story.  The principal came in and told me about a surprise $40,000 scholarship that Amazon was rewarding one of our students.  Getting interviews with the local Aurora Sentinel on my left and CBS Colorado on my right made me feel like I had made it to the "big leagues."  It was also a very special story to me because Bruno, the scholarship recipient's, aunts were asking me where they could find my video and my story. 

Once I got up from my chair, done with a six-hour editing session, I texted one of my other editors and said I hated it.   I didn't feel good about this piece at all.  The next morning I came back to it and loved it.  The stylistic choices I made, using visual effects to enhance the storybook ending hit, and the angles and themes that unfolded during the season, I felt were captured almost perfectly.  All of this was accomplished through a strong storytelling lens.

"Welcome to Swim Photography," the photographer next to me said as I wiped my lens clean of the pool water that just got splashed on it.  I had never been THAT close to the action, practically in the water with the state's best swimmers, all competing for a medal.  Swim and Dive is one of those events that doesn't receive much coverage throughout the year.  I vowed to change that, taking an entire Saturday to sit on the pool deck waiting for our swimmers to take their marks on the blocks.  When Oliver Schimberg took his mark, I knew it would be electric.  A state champion in the 200 backstroke the year previous, there was little in the way of a repeat.  On the last lap, it seemed like someone else had overtaken him until he popped his head out of the water.  It was one of the most coming-of-age, underdog-esque type stories I've ever had the privilege of witnessing.  I wanted to do it justice.

The drive down to Monument, Colorado, was a quiet one.   On the drive back, I had a story.  All I knew coming into this story was there was stick, ice, puck, and net.  I didn't know anything about the people and personalities it took to set up the event, the cause it was supporting, or what it truly meant to be cold.  I wanted to do that justice by really focusing on the details.  This wasn't a normal hockey tournament, but one played under the stars on a lake. 

Wrestling is one of the last sports I haven't covered while at Grandview, and it was one of the most special experiences.  Because wrestling is a highly individual sport, this video is longer, and an an example how I can keep an audience engaged in more extended pieces.