Reporting and Writing

Best of SNO award

Headlights Theater is a Sioux Falls-based dance group that performs with live music in parking lots across the city, keeping the local modern dance movement alive. In this entertainment article, I interviewed Madison Elliott, the group founder, and explored the artistic innovation of the local dance collective.

https://lhsstatesman.com/2022/10/headlights-theater-bringing-modern-dance-to-sioux-falls-20367/ 

Best of SNO award

This piece features Terra Shepherd, a Sioux Falls store that specializes in sustainable and ethically sourced clothing and cleaning products. Throughout the story, I explored the impact of fashion waste and eco-friendly living through conversations with the store owner, Sara Jamison, while placing her efforts in a global environmental context. 

https://lhsstatesman.com/2024/01/earth-friendly-finds-sustainable-shopping-at-terra-shepherd-23980/ 

Best of SNO award

In this news story, I explored how book challenges have impacted the lives of Sioux Falls School District librarians. My discussions with both high school and elementary librarians guided me to cover the changes in their professional lives, taking a national issue and putting it into both statewide and schoolwide perspectives. 

https://lhsstatesman.com/2023/03/librarians-feel-the-pressure-of-an-increase-in-book-challenges-21716/ 

Best of SNO award

This news story covers a fundraiser organized by an award-winning local chef, Sanaa Abourezk, at her Sioux Falls restaurant to provide food for the children of war-stricken Gaza. By including Abourezk's and attendees' views, along with the fundraiser's ultimate impact, I further fulfilled my love for taking global issues and placing them on local levels.

https://lhsstatesman.com/2023/12/sioux-falls-restaurant-holds-fundraiser-for-children-in-gaza-23591/ 

Best of SNO award

In this opinion article, I tackled the ever-changing issue of artificial intelligence and its gendered impacts on users' perceptions. I offered my concerns about the sexist rhetoric incorporated by AI engines and perpetuated by the lack of diverse voices in the technology industry. Through this, I added a more personal lens of specificity to a constantly debated topic.

https://lhsstatesman.com/2023/03/bias-in-ai-could-accentuate-sexism-21769/ 

Best of SNO award

For this feature, I teamed with another Statesman member and covered Emily's Hope, a charity that centers itself around raising awareness of addiction prevention and the dangers of fentanyl overdose. Throughout my conversations with Angela Kennecke, a former journalist who founded the charity in memory of her daughter, my perspective on the opioid crisis expanded. I aimed to take that expansion and portray it to Statesman readers as well.

https://lhsstatesman.com/2023/09/emilys-hope-turning-heartbreak-into-action-22674/ 

Best of SNO award

In this feature, I teamed up with another Statesman member and covered two LHS students advocating against South Dakota House Bill 1080, now law, that banned gender-affirming care for transgender minors throughout the state. By unpacking state politics and placing student views in context, this story amplifies student voices into national narratives surrounding a highly politicized issue. 

https://lhsstatesman.com/2023/03/student-activists-fight-back-against-house-bill-1080-21728/