● National Student Journalist of the Year Runner-Up ●
My Portfolio: Reporting & Writing
I'll admit: I am a controversy junky. I do my finest work under pressure and when all eyes are on me. The best stories to cover are those that I did not know would exist that morning and follow live. Here are some of my favorites.
The Spoke has four sections: News, Tredyffrin/Easttown Life (T/E Life), Opinion and Sports. While my favorite is undoubtedly News, I have experience across all sections and have grown to love their differences.
News
By car, by bus, by foot: A traffic trifecta
How a 10-minute commute can last an hour
Stuck in traffic: Cars on Irish Road wait in stand-still traffic as they arrive to school in the morning. Since the beginning of the school year, the roads leading in and out of Conestoga have experienced overwhelming traffic due in part to the effects of the nationwide bus driver shortage.
At the beginning of my sophomore year, as everyone was returning to in-person school, I noticed a frankly annoying trend: bus routes and car lines to get to and from school were outrageously long. I talked to my school district's transportation secretary, a local police sergeant, a few assistant principals and numerous students to get to the root of the problem.
As it turned out, there was no one direction to point blame: the combination of an increasing student population, fears of traveling with large groups on school buses as the COVID-19 pandemic was still raging and other less concrete factors contributed to this "traffic trifecta."
Recognition: 2022 First Place News Story, Pennsylvania NewsMedia Association Foundation
Leading a walkout: Junior Hayden McLellan stands on a couch and leads roughly 50 students out of the building in the middle of the school day. He posted a public Snapchat story that morning urging students who believed that the school should lift its mask mandate to protest during lunch.
In February 2022, I was getting ready for school one morning when I checked Snapchat and saw that a group of students were planning to stage a walkout that same day. The students claimed that the mask mandate violated their rights and believed that they should not have to wear their masks in school.
I grabbed my camera on the way out the door as I ran to catch the bus — and I'm glad I did. A little after noon that same day, a group of students met in Conestoga's atrium and started shouting. One student stood on a chair and directed others to take off their masks and follow him as he walked out of school. They did.
My reporter's instincts kicked in: I ran after them — literally, I sprinted through the students as they marched out of the school — and documented the scene.
Against the mandate:
Students participate in anti-mask walkout
T/E Life
Alumna aerialist: Taking a
Conestoga education to new heights
Aerial aerobics: Performing tricks while flying through the air, 2011 Conestoga alumna Ashley Zimmerman molds her extensive background in dance into a career as a circus performer. After studying dance, performing with dance companies and taking a stab at musical theater, she found her true passion: aerial circus performance.
When I'm not writing hard news, one of my favorite types of stories to write are those that follow alumni 10, 20, 30+ years post-grad.
I heard that Ashley Zimmerman, a 2011 Conestoga alumna, returned to her stomping grounds after graduation to perform in the circus. Conestoga is known for two things specifically: its superior academics and its highly successful sports teams. It's rare for someone to leave Conestoga and go into the performing arts full-time. Immediately, I reached out and asked to talk.
Playing with puppies: Sophomore Keira Ebersole pets therapy dogs with a smile plastered across her face. Student Services brought the dogs to the small courtyard on Friday, April 1 as one of the Mental Health Fair’s most popular events. Sophomore Giu Presa Vespa organized the fair and hopes that it will become a yearly tradition.
Coming out of the COVID-19 pandemic, there was a growing national conversation about students' well-being in school. I knew I wanted to cover it but wasn't sure how to localize the topic.
All of a sudden, I found my angle. A student was working with my school's principal to carve a week out of the school year to focus on fostering and improving mental health. Her goal was to cancel all tests and quizzes for a week, bring in speakers and end the week with a "Mental Health Fair." I followed her for months as she planned the week and reported on her process.
Minds behind the operation:
Sophomores plan Mental Health Week
Opinion
Stop listening to Kanye West's music
With the last name Shapiro, it's no secret that I'm Jewish. In late 2022, when Kanye West went on his antisemitic social media rampage, I couldn't just sit back and let it happen. So, I leaned on my Constitutional rights and published an opinion piece in The Spoke about why my fellow students should stop listening to Kanye's music. The rest speaks for itself.
I took 13 AP classes in high school. I'm not saying that to brag; I'm saying that to highlight the problem. Why was I allowed to take so many college-level courses in high school? Conestoga loves to boast its wellness initiatives for students: no midterm or final exams, a 55% grade minimum, and now a new school schedule for next year. I truly believe they are all well-intentioned. But they are failing.
Why Conestoga needs to place a cap on AP courses
Sports
Fall sports season one of best in school history
'Stoga at states: From left to right, sophomore Shae Wozniak, freshman Evan Cross and junior Jennifer He play for Conestoga's field hockey, boys' soccer and girls' tennis teams, respectively.
I'll be honest: sports aren't my thing. I'm the type of person who only watches the Super Bowl for the halftime show. But give me a camera and a story and I'm game. (Pun intended.)
Last fall, as my headline states, Conestoga's sports teams performed exceptionally well. It was the talk of the school. So, like any good journalist, I started reporting on what people were talking about. Over the course of several weeks, I spoke with multiple members of every single one of Conestoga's fall sports teams.
This article helped me venture into the world of sports journalism from an angle with which I was familiar and comfortable. I covered this article as I would any traditional News story: I found my angle, facts and sources and built the article out from there. Turns out Sports reporting isn't that different after all.
Athletic probation: The Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association (PIAA) placed Conestoga High School on probation in early December following the boys' soccer team's recent state title.
After the boys' soccer team's state championship win in November, I heard rumors about Conestoga facing disciplinary action from the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association (PIAA), the state championship's sponsor, due to rowdy fan behavior.
I would never report on a rumor. But I will always look into the lead. I talked to one of my school's assistant principals who confirmed the rumors but only agreed to speak with me off the record. I then spoke with my school's athletic director who confirmed that the PIAA placed Conestoga on probation.
That same day, I broke the news to my school and community — all while still attending school and going to my classes — with an article posted on The Spoke's website and social media accounts. The article racked up nearly 30,000 views on The Spoke's website.
PIAA puts Conestoga on probation