2024
CSJC
Top Story, Day 2
When I attended the Carolina Sports Journalism Camp the summer before my junior year, I took the opportunity to prove to myself that I did not need to rely solely on my photography and design. On day one, we were tasked with writing a story about our random partner's greatest athletic achievement. I wanted to impress Professor Tim Crothers with my story, as I was slightly fan-girling over him the whole time.
As I tried to figure out my new angle, I realized that getting the top story would be nice, but even better would be writing a story I was proud of and that served its readers. Trimble had talked about his faith and walk with God, and I was excited to have an opportunity to use that in the story. After I clicked submit on my story at the end of night two, I knew I had done everything I could to make it good. The next day, I opened the top stories and recognized instantly the words I had pored over the day before. I had done it, I had gotten top story, but even more, I had reminded myself what I loved about writing, sharing others' stories.
When we opened each of the top stories the next day, I scanned quickly, searching for familiar words. It was a gut punch when I saw that my story didn't win. I decided that the rest of my time during the camp would be devoted to getting the top story for our guest speaker, Seth Trimble. I had done research late into the night before and spent a ton of time crafting my questions for the press conference. By the luck of the draw, I didn't get to ask any of my questions, and the ones that were asked had nothing to do with the angle I wanted to take for my story. While the press conference was recorded by one of the chaperones, who would later give us the transcript and recording, I also recorded it so I would not have to rely on anyone else. On the way back to Agora Hall for lunch, I put in my AirPods, listened to the press conference again, and picked out my quotes.
2024 - 2025
But Also
Behind the scenes
When Hurricane Helene hit, we knew that we needed to cover it for our local spread in the yearbook. One of my staff members had been covering a small town that was hit hard by the hurricane, so he went there on some supply drops to get some pictures. While he was covering some of the devastated areas, I stayed in Hickory, and my dad drove me around to get some footage and pictures of the community.
To get all sides of the story, I reached out to the relief efforts being led at the Hickory Regional Airport. I drove out to the airport, which was under pretty tight lockdown, and got some pictures before they asked me to leave. I spent the rest of the day applying for access, but it didn't pan out. I had to pivot to find other ways to cover what our community was doing for those hit hardest. Our school district was serving hot breakfast to those who were missing it because school was cancelled, so I went and took some pictures of the cafeteria workers handing out the food. It felt really amazing to report on something directly affecting my community and my state. I never really thought twice about going out and reporting, and it felt so second nature.
2025
The School of NYT
Story from The Villager
During my time at The School of NYT, I was in the class Editing 101. On the first day, we were divided into three groups of around 5-6 each. These were the groups with whom we would create a Greenwich-based publication. In those groups, we had to choose an editor, a publication focus, and the website's vibe. In the coming days, the people in my publication chose me as the editor, and it felt really amazing to be able to have a leadership role in the class.
When I asked to interview Slatnick, he was really irritated and did not want to answer questions because some other students in the class had decided to write a story about the shop, but none of them came to the open-mic night. He wouldn't even spell his name and said that I should just get it from the other students. He told me, "Don't ask me anything that the others already did. I don't wanna answer twice." I asked him, "What are the dimensions of the door?" My question caught him off guard and lessened the tension of the interview. He seemed to appreciate the effort and gave me some of the coolest answers ever.
I wanted to write a story that encompassed the arts scene of Greenwich Village. We were taken on a tour so we could decide what our publication would cover. I decided to write my story on an open-mic night at the Music Inn, a music shop where Bob Dylan used to play. When I asked the owner, Jeff Slatnick, for an interview, he was really irritated and did not want to answer questions because some other students in the class had decided to write a story about the shop, but none of them came to the open-mic night.
I wanted to include an anecdote in which he talked about getting some free tickets to a "Knickerbocker" game and sitting courtside with his high school gym teacher. He talked about how some things in the universe are just meant to be, and he hoped that was how the Music Inn was. After I showed our class teacher, Liz Donovan, my story, she told me that if she were writing it, she would cut the anecdote. She said that it didn't feel natural and was distracting from the story. She could see how much I loved that part, and she said something that I will never forget. She told me that sometimes you have to murder your baby. Jarring as the phrase may be, she was right. The story ended up being one that I am incredibly proud of, and I am so grateful for the edits that Liz gave me.
2025
Just a Minute, Hold On
Behind the scenes
On October 18 of 2025 the world gathered in different cities for the No Kings protests. Me and another student, Max, decided to cover the event together in Charlotte. I ended up doing a story for our yearbook for the national spread. While the spread wasn't directly about my school, it brought some of what was happening in our state to my school, which was a rural and more conservative community. Writing stories about things outside of the small town of Newton and exposing readers to other perspectives is something I love about journalism. I wanted to make this an accessible news story for my school.
Max was able to get backstage access after asking one of the organizers. He called me and told me to come up as soon as possible because they were going to let me in as well. I didn't realize that all I had to do was ask confidently and I could get access that others didn't have. The access allowed me to get reactions of the crowd as speakers talked, and I was able to hear from the speakers themselves after they came off stage, giving me angles that gave me a more complete story.
By taking a step out of my comfort zone and talking to the people who spoke on stage I was able to get some wonderful quotes talking about how important it is to use my first amendment right. Back home in Hickory, there were smaller protests happening as well. Even though I was covering Charlotte and not Hickory, it was important that readers of my story would be able to see civic duty in action. Those who protested in Hickory would see they were not alone, and those who thought it was just Hickory would see that it was a lot larger.
2024 - 2025
But Also
NCSMI - Theme Copy, 1st place
After learning more about theme writing from Brenda Gorsuch at NCSMI, I decided that I wanted to write the theme copy my junior year. She taught us that finding a video with good energy that matches your theme and using the syllables was a good way to write it, so I wrote out the syllable count from the trailer for "A Different Man." I loved the rhythm that the trailer had and it fit our theme well because of the tangents it went on with short phrases following directly after.
Theme copy seems like it is just to tell what your book's theme is, but really, it is a love letter encompassing the year to your school. Theme copy explained exactly how we experienced the year and why it was important that it happened the way it did. No one but the set of freshman through seniors that year will get how exciting it was for the reboot of Phineas and Ferb. No one but us will remember the way it felt to storm the field of the last football game of the season. When we look back at the book, the theme copy is what reminds us of how it felt, and I got to create and really appreciate that.
I got the staff together and we came up with things that were specific to the year so that the theme copy wasn't common. I loved the challenge of writing something within the constraints that the syllables provided. I also realized that there is much to be said about reporting about what made Foard uniquely ours as a student body within the theme copy.