For this story, I worked with a small team of reporters to talk with local legislators, law enforcement, migrant students, ELL teachers, and our district superintendent. This is the most interview intensive story I’ve every worked on, which expounded on how President Trump’s immigration policies targeted members of our community, shining light on their reactions and responses. One of the reporters on this story spoke fluent Spanish, so he took charge in interviewing those migrant students who only spoke spanish. ELL students have hardly received coverage in our paper, and most students papers I see, mostly due to language barriers. Not only does having a story highlighting their unique circumstances and experiences in relation to current politics important, but additionally having translated versions made available made this more accessible. 

One of our writers on staff was bilingual, spoke fluent Spanish and was familiar with the spanish curriculums being taught at Northwest. He expressed frustration at how the dialect being taught was from Spain, and not Mexico. He said most students at Northwest, in the Northwest community or America in general spoke the Mexican dialect. Not only does this impose barriers upon students who want to effectively and authentically communicate with Spanish-speakers in their community, but it also makes Spanish-speaking students feel incompetent and confused being told they don’t know Spanish, when that’s what they’ve grown up speaking. The Spanish and English Language Learner (ELL) teachers at Northwest expressed great interest and support in this editorial. It unveils the challenges most Spanish-speaking students face, while speaking to solutions in curriculum changes which would improve students’ learning experiences. Because our staff lacks people who speak Spanish or are hispanic it was difficult to find issues or successes reflected in those communities. But Jesus, who wrote this editorial, amongst other features and opinion pieces talking about his experiences growing up hispanic, challenges impacting hispanic students, and translating works into Spanish, gave our paper an immense amount of perspective and attention. This is a key example of as to why having diversity on staff is so important.

A staffer, who is Filipina, expressed interest in writing a column for our themed issues about ways in which students feel targeted about the prevalence of Asian hate in our generation through social media trends and pervasive childhood ignorance. I not only worked with her in structuring the story and focusing on moments that most impacted her, but discussed design elements, took photos, and debriefed with her about interviews. What I think is also very interesting about the contents of this column is how she used quotes from other asian students and their experiences with racism. Typically, in the time I’ve been on staff, columns have solely been someone’s first person experience with no quotes from anyone else, unless it’s dialogue. But Olivia (the writer of this column) was extremely passionate about incorporating as many voices possible. She brings up many unique points about how aspects of asian culture are commodified and turned into fast fashion or become fetishized. I hadn’t even realized until she spoke about it how those trends are not only disrespectful and racist, but contribute to cultural erasure. I’m extremely proud of this piece for so many reasons; because it highlights the experiences of an underrepresented community at Northwest, Olivia wrote about extremely personal moments with intensity, vulnerability, and conciseness, and her message is one that is rarely, if ever, talked about. 

This column is one I wrote freshman year about what it’s like growing up with a transgender sibling. Before the pitching and writing, I hadn’t thought about this situation very deeply, because it was just my life, and I’d hardly given my brother or his transition a second thought. But once I’d started thinking about the string of moments marking his transition; cutting his hair, shopping for men's clothes, surgery, name changes, and more, I realized how close my connection was to this controversial issue surging through media coverage (transgender rights). Almost every day I saw some headline or comment on Tik Tok that made pointed or aggressive remarks about transgender people. The love and acceptance I have for my brother made me an immediate advocate on this issue. I also hadn’t seen many perspectives from those who were raised with, friends with, or parented by someone transgender. So not only was this coverage timely, as content coming out, even within our school district, regarding transgender rights with sports participation, but it’s being written through a unique lens. 

 Driving home from school each day I saw the clumps of cross country runners race down 67th Street. But I started noticing one girl in the very back, running alone, and completely covered in her black tracksuit and hijab. It was also 90 degrees at the time. I was perplexed at how she could withstand the heat, and harshness of this sport while also holding such strong devotion to her religion. Upon interviewing the runner, Husna, I found that she persevered because she wanted to be a role model for girls who looked like her. She said she wanted to join cross country freshman and sophomore year, but didn’t because she was scared that no one else looked like her. I also discovered, after speaking with a cross country coach, that she was the first runner at Northwest to compete in her hijab. I shadowed Husna at practice and realized some of the challenges she faced were not only physical; she witnessed subtle racist jokes and comments from her teammates, and her coaches, after months of practice still couldn’t pronounce her name. She felt isolated in more ways than one, but there was also tremendous support from the team in general; they made accommodations for her in practice by shortening routes so she didn’t get overheated, coaches would also trade off running with her, her teammates screamed encouraging words at meets as she competed, and at team pasta dinners, they made her her own meatless sauce. Being able to cover the first muslim girl at Northwest who broke barriers in this way made me realize how much privilege reporters wield.  

I was horrified to see footage on Instagram of a black female student at Shawnee Mission East (SME) getting punched after being called derogatory terms, key among them being the N-word. She broke her nose from the assault and was held in the main office for two hours before her parents were notified, and then faced a five day suspension. Protests quickly ensued on SME campus, and outside a board meeting, which I attended with a staff photographer. Even though this student wasn’t from Northwest it affected our district. We wanted to know if revisions would be made to our Zero Tolerance Policy, if SME administration or the perpetrator would experience repercussions. I spoke with the girl who was assaulted, Brey’Anna, and her family. I also interviewed protesters from SME about their goals, what they wanted to see change, and how they could go about inflicting or influencing that. I believe coverage of these incidents, especially by school media, is extremely important in uncovering systemic injustices in both our society and in public education. 

 I knew there was a story here after speaking with our district superintendent about the funding freeze that impacted the Shawnee Mission School District (SMSD) last summer. He said the special education department was already experiencing losses in funding at the state level. The state of Kansas had been underfunding special education in public schools for over a decade by not meeting their statutory requirements of 92%. Instead, for SMSD, Kansas was funding schools closer to 60% or 70%. This mean that our district was taking around $20 million dollars annually from the general budget to fund special education, as they are mandated to do so. This primarily impacts teacher salaries and benefits, which has a cascading effect on the quality of education and opportunities SMSD can provide. Besides our superintendent, I spoke with Northwest administration, the SMSD Associate Superintendent Special Education, special education teachers and aids, and more. Coverage of this issue was especially important, because the students it affects don’t necessarily possess the capabilities to advocate for change on their own, how Brey’Anna at SME protested her racially charged assault. I know the aim of journalism is always aimed at giving a voice to the voiceless. I think the reporting for this story exemplifies that.