Law, Ethics and News Literacy
From seeing my reporting result in real change, to pushing back when it comes to challenges from the administration, to localizing national events, my four years spent working in Warrior Media have taught me several important lessons in this area.
Promoting Change
When I was a mere freshman, I wanted to write an opinion piece on the stigma of calling female athletes "Lady Warriors." As I sheepishly walked into the office of the athletic director at the time, Pat McCabe, I asked him some questions about this phrase that I've heard through the school and he agreed with me that it was sexist. A week after I interviewed him, my adviser showed me an email he sent out to teachers and staff regarding what school teams should be referred to. It was my first taste of seeing how journalism can have a powerful impact.
Warrior Strong
When writing "Warrior Strong," an article about the school shooting at Arapahoe 10 years earlier, I faced challenges with some administrators over what I could and couldn't publish, especially in regards to specific details surrounding the shooting. I felt strongly that omitting the facts of the tragedy would be a disservice to the student body, which had a right to know what happened on their campus. Knowing the Colorado student press laws that say student media cannot be censored except in certain very narrow circumstances, I was able to get what I wanted published.
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In addition, when designing the spread, I wanted to use old pictures from the Arapahoe Herald archives, but unfortunately those were lost. When looking through the special addition of The Herald from 2013 about the school shooting, I noticed a lot of great pictures from the Denver Post, so I decided to reach out to the current photo editor of the paper to get the permission and rights to use three different photos.
Localizing National Events
With the 2024 election, I thought it was very important to not only write about it, but create an entire issue surrounding this historic moment in history. Titled "The Election Issue," the first issue of the 2024-2025 of The Herald explored how this election would impact students at Arapahoe. Through a survey sent out to staff and students and discussions with government teachers, I was able to publish six pages regarding the election and conceptualize, style and design a bold, eye-catching cover with voting stickers and political pins.