Personal Narrative
Becoming involved in journalism was like finding a piece of myself I didn't know I was missing. My school's journalism program has given me an opportunity to have so many experiences I never thought possible. The point of the program—to give a platform to people and issues—is powerful and has shaped how I see and understand the world.
I am a curious person by nature, and journalism allows me to not only investigate stories and perspectives that I wouldn't otherwise encounter, but also to share them with others. I enjoy the process and challenge of creating a story. To create an excellent story, you must be able to chase down leads, synthesize information, and clearly and accurately relay the story. You have to get to the root of the story and figure out what sources to contact and where to access the answers you need. When interviewing someone, you often learn a new piece of information that changes the perspective of the story or gain a lead that sends you looking for another interview and more information.
The dynamic process of a story unfolding is invigorating for me as a journalist. I research the topic or person extensively before I decide on the general focus of the story. I prepare an outline of questions for my interviews, but I am actively listening to their answers to help me shape the next question. An example of this on the spot flexibility happened when I was conducting interviews for “I Am His Voice: Exposing Gun Violence in America” and sought to speak with many people who represented different organizations and interests. For this story, I arranged an interview with a representative from the National Rifle Association, and at the last minute, he did not allow me to record the interview. I adjusted to the new limitations of the interview quickly and still took the opportunity to ask questions that helped me better understand his perspective. By seeking different perspectives and solutions, I was able to articulate opposing viewpoints on the topic and accurately represent the current situation.
High school journalism has not only helped me to develop personally and professionally, but has also shaped my understanding of the community that I am part of and how I can contribute to it. As a high school journalist, I have taken this unique opportunity to report stories to my school community as a member of that community. I see and live the effects of many complex issues locally, and at the same time, I am a typical high school student thinking about tests and prom. Authenticity and using my voice as a youth has been vital to my journalism. I strive to create a better understanding in my community of otherwise unreported issues that impact my peers.
I have learned how to ask effective questions, investigate issues, and amplify voices in my community that need to be heard. By creating investigative pieces and stories centered on my local community, I have worked to highlight underrepresented voices and subjects, while encouraging viewers to become more active participants in their communities. Bringing new voices and perspectives to my school community is important and can help to bring attention to issues or events that my school community may not have known about otherwise.
In my high school journalism program, I have appreciated the opportunity to explore the various mediums of journalism and use the different mediums for appropriate stories to best convey information. Stories can be expressed in many different formats and can be conveyed through print and online newspapers, news broadcasts, documentaries, and shorter broadcast videos. I mainly focus on my school’s news show, RNE-TV Live, as the News Director and create broadcast videos, but I am also a staff writer for my school’s online newspaper, Editor-in-Chief of our school’s literary magazine, Tapestry, and one of the social media managers for RNE-TV Live. My school’s news show airs live four days a week and keeps students informed about events in the school and surrounding community. The news show was recognized for high-quality programming during my years of participation in 2022 and 2023 with NSPA Pacemaker Awards, one of the nation’s top student journalism awards.
Along the way, I have faced numerous hurdles, and while each one has taught me valuable lessons, the main one is resiliency. My high school newsroom has faced similar issues that have plagued newsrooms across the nation from funding constraints to staffing shortages to lack of community support. My program has experienced budget constraints, which has kept us from buying new equipment for the past few years. While I do think that keeping up with technology advancements and updated equipment is important for news programs, our news team has tried to not let monetary constraints negatively affect the substance of our reporting. These constraints have forced us to be creative and resilient. As the year has progressed, we have worked on fundraising ideas to help us purchase new equipment and attend conferences.
At this point of my senior year, we have not been able to attend a local or national conference this school year. In my experience, attending conferences has provided opportunities for me to be exposed to other students producing high quality work. The various topics covered during sessions have also been helpful to grow me and my peers as a journalist. While I have advocated for these opportunities to be made available to students, my hope is that moving forward, my school community recognizes the importance of participating in scholastic journalism conferences for helping to expand our knowledge and uphold standards.
Staffing issues have been the biggest challenge with ensuring high standards are maintained in my school’s journalism program. There have been five different journalism teachers during my time in high school. This turnover created complications as teacher expectations and styles varied widely. While these changes have provided me the opportunity to learn from a diverse group of teachers, the inconsistencies have also led to many students becoming disengaged and quitting the program. With the rapid changes of academic advisors, I had to adopt a more senior role as News Director for the past three years because success often required more student journalistic independence. As we have experienced student staffing shortages, my fellow News Directors and I sought to recruit and maintain a staff that is dedicated to producing a quality program. Over the years, I have worked to train and cross-train staff members so that we have become a dynamic team. To create a good final product, there have to be people who create content, people who schedule and organize, and people who are in charge of producing the final product. I have focused on these details to maintain excellent standards. Establishing consistency in these areas is a central objective of mine as News Director.
The impact of seeing my work published and the difference that it has made has been fulfilling. Looking forward, I am excited to continue my journalistic journey. My experiences in journalism have taught me the importance of flexibility, adaptability, leadership, and management. I have also learned how to approach challenges and seek out opportunities. As I move past high school and into college, I will carry the lessons I have learned through participation in journalism during high school and continue to be an engaged citizen. I expect to face new challenges, but with the experiences that I have obtained during my time in high school, I feel prepared to take them head on. Whether through my college news publications or freelance work, I am excited to continue telling the stories that matter. My time in scholastic media has shaped me and prepared me for the future. I caught the journalism bug (figuratively, of course).