News Writing & Reporting
When diving into topics to report, it is crucial to examine them from various perspectives. I have developed a passion in thoroughly investigating every matter and disseminating my discoveries. This comes from interviewing diverse sources, every story including a student, staff, and community member, while formulating the story so it is digestible to the reader.Through this process, I've gained valuable insights into the intricacies of planning and execution that contribute to the broader context. It's a privilege for me to share my insights and use my voice to educate my peers.
2023-2024
Editor-in-Chief
Building knowledge and connections
Volume 56, Senior Issue
Since our senior editorial was the only editorial board item I wrote this year (and it also happened to be the last one) I wanted to include it. The only thing, in my opinion, that was wrong with it was that it wasn't lengthy enough, but it was because of style and had to be made that way for design reasons. The variety of subjects covered is one of its strong points. We chose to write an editorial about our experiences and lessons learned while at North Pointe. It gave me great pleasure to introduce our readers to what we do, cherish, and learn throughout our time at North Pointe. It was definitely not easy for me to condense such a significant portion of my high school experience into four paragraphs, however.
Food truck tailgate wraps up a successful charity week
Volume 56, Issue 8
This story had to be included as the entire story was made in a matter of 2-3 hours. The interviews, photos, and story was written on our assigned lock night. This was due to the story falling through being a very last minute notice. We didn’t realize the story was unfinished until the night we planned to lock the entire paper. The story was supposed to be the entire Charity week, however, we had to limit it to the final wrap up: the food trucks. The strength is the story itself. We were able to secure great interviews, and usable photos, which seemed almost impossible at the moment as we had numerous other things to do. I’m extremely proud of the final product.
Social media safety concerns for youth
Volume 56, Issue 6
I also decided to include this article since, even outside of journalism, I was knowledgeable about the subject when I started writing the story. The artwork and the sources are two of this story's strong points. Three sources are usually available to us: students, teachers, and community members. To ensure that the different perspectives of our student body were equally and accurately represented, we changed it to 4 for diversity sources. I created the artwork, and I appreciate it since the infographic deviates from the conventional "horizontal art" that consists of just simple words and information. It looks intriguing and is quite colorful in the paper
Snowfall shortage linked to climate change
Volume 56, Issue 4
​The reason I chose this story was that the original concept was totally reversed. You would assume that a story on climate change would be statistical and only focus on the "general idea" - nevertheless, we decided to take a different angle, which is challenging when dealing with such a broad subject that is hard to relate to our everyday campus. We made the decision to highlight how it affects student sports, particularly skiing, and how nearby lessons must use artificial snow alternatives to overcome the effects of climate change. Communication and collaboration was excellent from all members. I learned that you can take any idea or concept, and connect it to the little things you don’t even realize are impacted.
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UAW seek raises amid electric vehicle shift
Volume 56, Issue 1
I chose to include this piece due to the process behind it. We had noticed later in the issue-planning process that no one was assigned to the story. I volunteered to pick it up which left me with 1-2 days of planning, interviewing, and completing on top of my other responsibilities I had that issue. Fortunately, I was able to complete it with an interview I was proud of. My interviewee went very in-depth, which I felt was a reflection of my questions. A limitation I will say was obviously time. But I felt that I overcame that. I learned a lot about time management, and prioritizing timeliness while making it “not sloppy.”
Conflict in Gaza impacts youth globally
Volume 56, Issue 3
When it comes to journalism in a highschool community, it is vital to connect the story back to our readers; establishing an angle you cannot find elsewhere. We took initiative to report on the conflict in Gaza, but rather pursuing an angle that sets their reality into our readers' perspectives: the impact on youth. While we touched on the impact of the conflict on the children physically in Gaza, we also focused on the bigger picture. A domino effect. How big world issues will eventually impact each and every one of us, as described by global issues teacher Dan Gilleran in the article. He highlights how we are all connected, which ultimately sums up our approach. The unique angle provided an excess amount of knowledge for me personally as a writer when it comes to providing a sophisticated and new story.
Senior schedule altered to accommodate prompt credit audit
BREAKING NEWS DEC. 7, 2023
North Pointe policy highlights that breaking news stories must be done in a 24 hour time frame. Upon receiving the news of our seniors' schedule being changed for the year, I quickly had to identify one student source while combining it with the released statement. I feel that the story could have been longer by including another source, as I only had one. It would have made the story more sophisticated, however I recognize the fact that I had limited time.
Snowfall shortage link to climate change
Volume 56, Issue 5
This story faced numerous obstacles in terms of timing, as it was completed the day we sent our pages to the printer. Multiple sources had fallen, through following numerous emails to local professors and additional teachers in our school. As the topic was generally broad, we took it upon ourselves to angle the story on impact within students. As climate change has caused warmer temperatures, Michigan has seen less snow. This has impacted students that take on winter sports that require snow such as skiing, ultimately resulting to us reaching out to students that participate. The final product includes a student voice and story, rather than fixating on facts and date you can find at any news station.
2022-2023
Section Editor
ACT scores at an all time low
Volume 55, Issue 3
When my partner Jo and I started working on this article, we were both juggling other responsibilities outside of journalism, which ultimately caused us to be fearful of potential hurdles. But because we offered prioritization to our time management and communication with one another, we were capable of meeting our deadline. We controlled the writing, interviews, and art while juggling other aspects of our lives, and we communicated that to each other, which is why I decided to include this story. Additionally, the interview component comprises our strengths. We were able to create compelling interview questions that would only invoke ideal responses, giving us more variety and points of view for our story. Despite our strengths, we still needed to improve the story's actual writing. Peer editing was required because the final draft did not adhere to the original plan and did not accurately reflect the story's overall "math" theme. Although the final product was solid, I learned that I should give the actual writing of the story more priority than just the crucial steps before it such as double checking and scanning for errors. In the future, I plan to divide my time equally so the writing gets nutured just as much as the overall process.
Requirement of financial literacy courses to take place
Volume 55, Issue 5
There was a lot of struggle with this story in terms of time, however it came together in the end. I felt that the actual writing aspect of the story is strong. Leading up to it, however, there were definitely struggles with keeping up/finding sources which led to eventual extensions, and lost time. This was one of the first times I experienced a moment where I thought everything would come together with no obstacles, as what we faced was not anticipated initially in terms of interviewees falling through. I also created the art for this story, which I’m very proud of. I learned to keep tabs on every situation, despite my confidence in its (unknown) success.
2021-2022
Staff Reporter
GP League of Women Voters hosts informational panel on US History
Volume 54, Issue 6
There was a lot of struggle with this story in terms of time, however it came together in the end. I felt that the actual writing aspect of the story is strong. Leading up to it, however, there were definitely struggles with keeping up/finding sources which led to eventual extensions, and lost time. This was one of the first times I experienced a moment where I thought everything would come together with no obstacles, as what we faced was not anticipated initially in terms of interviewees falling through. I also created the art for this story, which I’m very proud of. I learned to keep tabs on every situation, despite my confidence in its (unknown) success.
ACT scores at an all time low
Volume 54, Issue 8
Due to the hardships encountered while composing "Opening of emergency oil reserve reduces gas prices," I decided to include it in my portfolio. I find news to be one of the most difficult categories to write in journalism because you have to be thorough with every piece of information while also selecting the perfect candidates to interview. As my partner and I were able to get around to one student and one teacher source, we were left stuck on a community contribution after our previous interview fell through. I called every gas station in Grosse Pointe and a few in the surrounding areas, but all of the gas station workers said no to an interview. Very conflicted, I came to the realization that not everything will go as expected. In terms of our strengths, my partner and I maintained great communication throughout putting together our piece, and we put a lot of effort into the general writing component. Though due to being too focused on the writing, I think I could’ve improved our art as it’s a bit basic; I could have contributed more creativity and I plan to definitely improve art when I do more news tasks in the future. Despite the challenges that came along with writing this piece, I wouldn’t change the experience whatsoever. I learned much more about “the world of journalism,” such as the “do(s)” and the “don’t(s).”