When I say that I love media and broadcast journalism most people think I am exaggerating or playing around with them, but it is the truth, it’s given me so many memories and opportunities. So this is my story about how I fell in love with media. Six grade I was at an open house for my new middle school and I was interested in the science magnet there and had gone to see what it was about. And then one of my good friend’s moms asked if I wanted to go see the media magnet and I agreed, I watched a music video and from that moment on I was hooked. I thought it was so incredible that students a couple of years older than me were able to produce something like that and I wanted to do it so I changed my magnet to media. A few months passed and I’m standing outside my media classroom in the morning when the eighth grade media teacher walked over to my class and asked if any one of us wanted to participate in the school's morning announcements. I volunteered and that day I ended up anchoring in front of the whole school. I really remember like it was yesterday, I was so nervous and excited and when it was over, I knew that that was what I wanted to do for the rest of my life and so from that day forward I shadowed and participated in the morning as much as I could. In eighth grade, I became the floor manager and showed up every day at 8:15 am to lead my school's morning announcements. Everyone had thought I was crazy to go every day but I loved it. I helped my teams set up the cameras, worked the tricaster, set up the teleprompters, everything. I was the boss, the leader, and it felt amazing to be able to do that every day and produce quality morning announcements. 

In high school I was recommended to skip the intro media classes so I was put into the advanced class and got to work on day one working as a photog in a reporter group for my schools weekly news magazine show Called CSN, Centennial Student News. Through the years, I worked my way through the ranks, became a reporter, and junior year became a producer. I have created many news stories and been in the field of journalism  Every day my favorite class to walk into has been media. I’ve put so much of my time and energy into my show to make it the best it can be from reporting during COVID to now mentoring my reporters. It has been a surreal experience to be able to create one of the most respected high school news shows in the city and to be able to create a family and future legacies to be able to keep this amazing show going for when I’m gone. It gives me such a thrill every day to be able to participate in something that I love to do in and out of school. My media journey started out from music videos and PSA’s and now ended up with a weekly news broadcast that I edit and oversee. I really cannot express the gratitude that I have for these experiences, the opportunities to travel to state and national conventions to compete, to become a leader in a role model to my younger classmates, to have bonded and made so many new friends and relationships that I will now be forever grateful for. For seven years this has been my entire life, my love and my passion. Winning awards and being a state champion for three years in a row has been a plus as well. 

When people would ask me what I wanted to do in the future, I knew exactly what I wanted to do. Thanks to media and broadcast journalism, now I have the opportunity to make that a reality by attending the University of Oklahoma, Gaylord College for broadcast journalism and communications, that I have recently been accepted into. I am so incredibly excited for what my future holds. Again, I know all of this might sound exaggerated, but I promise you that it’s not. I have put my heart and soul into every single one of my projects and 110% effort into everything I do. I have not only inspired others to do the same as well, but it has inspired me to keep this passion alive inside me, and to keep pushing for my dream to become a producer for my career.

2021-NMSPA 3rd place Feature Story

We also have a student run TikTok acount that posts fun and creative videos for our student body to enjoy!