● National Student Journalist of the Year Runner-Up ●
My Portfolio: Web & Social Media
Disclaimer: When I say I get my news from social media, I don't mean that I trust every Instagram post and TikTok video that pops up on my phone. But, let's be real, it's the 21st century. Social media is everywhere, and the news sites that capitalize on its power to quickly deliver the news to the masses are the reputable sites that people trust. Expanding The Spoke's online and social media presence has been of utmost importance to me.
I entered high school in a pandemic. My first day of classes began by logging onto a Teams meeting. Even if I tried, I would never be able to escape the grasp of the internet and social media.
I have learned not to fear this monster, but rather to embrace it: when used correctly, The Spoke's online presence provides a major aid in our reporting, newsgathering and information-sharing efforts.
The Spoke's Instagram feed, circa May 2021
The Spoke's Instagram feed, circa December 2023
"Social media is where the kids are." I mean, that's not wrong. I am a teenager just like every other student in my school; I know what looks good on social media and on what people are more likely to click. Here are some of the changes to The Spoke's social media accounts that I oversaw — changes that increased The Spoke's follower base by 1,000 accounts since I joined the staff.
Social Media Templates
Sometimes, in order to appear more professional, you have to copy the big dogs. I noticed that the Instagram accounts of The New York Times, Washington Post, Associated Press, etc., while all unique, share one thing in common: they put the headline on top of the picture.
Unfortunately, it's not realistic to think that, upon seeing an image on social media, the average reader will click on the post, scroll to the caption and read the article. However, it is still our job to inform the public.
Over the summer, I created social media templates for every type of post we would ever publish — from breaking news stories to sports game updates and scores. I had two goals: one, providing as much information in one image as possible without overwhelming the reader (headline, photo, news and all), and two, ensuring that text did not block the photo (I mean, photos are why people come to social media in the first place, right?).
These templates helped create a cohesive, professional image online. Take a look at some of the posts made using my templates.
Live Sports Coverage
When covering sports games live — or any event, for that matter — journalists must balance getting the information right with getting the information quickly. I tried to bridge that divide this year.
Every Spoke reporter is required to attend and cover two sports games per season. Within The Spoke's Slack workspace, I created a new channel, "Sports Games." In this channel, reporters kept me, the Web Managing Editor, the Social Media Editor, the Web Copy Editor and the Photography Editor up to date with every home sports game.
This ensured that, during a game, The Spoke was posting score updates to its Instagram and Facebook stories. Within a couple of hours after the game ended, The Spoke consistently posted these photos and briefs for the community.
This year, two things happened:
1. Both Conestoga's boys' and girls' soccer teams advanced to the state finals.
2. I learned that soccer was my favorite sport to photograph and cover.
Naturally, I drove the three hours round-trip to cover the games in the pouring rain. I brought along one other photographer with me, and we became a two-person power team. We snapped pictures, swapped SD cards, uploaded them and posted live updates (with photos) to The Spoke's website as well as our Instagram and Facebook accounts. Whenever someone scored a goal, a referee called a penalty or someone attempted to score, I ran back to the sidelines, grabbed my laptop and posted.
The state championship game took place almost 100 miles away from Conestoga. Not every student was able to attend. The Spoke covered the event, acting as the sole news source providing live updates during the games. Every story we posted garnered upwards of 900 views. I posted a complete photo gallery and brief to The Spoke's website and social media accounts within five minutes of both games' end. Talk about reporting live.
Some of the stories I posted to The Spoke's Instagram and Facebook accounts in live time.
Live News Coverage
Since the start of 2024, President Biden held two campaign rallies in the greater Philadelphia area. Both times, I worked my contacts in the industry and got a press pass for the event. I covered both events live for The Spoke, posting photos and updates to the paper's social media accounts so our readership could follow from home. These are some of the stories I posted to The Spoke's Instagram and Facebook accounts on March 8 when the president held a campaign rally at a nearby middle school.
Social Media for Breaking News
I take the "journalist" in student-journalist seriously. It doesn't matter if I'm studying for a math test, taking notes in my economics class or getting into bed for the night: if I hear breaking news, I rush to report.
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. Read the article here.
On election night this fall, I watched the results of the school board elections roll in. It was a contested race, especially with the arguments arising at public school board meetings nationwide. I watched as every single seat on the Tredyffrin/Easttown School District's school board went to a Democrat. So, I reported. I knew that the first step was getting the results out, followed by later publishing a more in-depth article. See below for the design I pulled together in 20 minutes for The Spoke's Instagram and Facebook accounts. I then worked with The Spoke's Webmaster to create interactive charts of the election results.
Telling Stories on Social Media
As much as I hate to admit it, I know that people don't read every article in the newspaper. The average person would rather see the same content, published visually, sent directly to their phone. I can work with that.
I designed and posted these photos to The Spoke's Instagram and Facebook accounts. They contained the same content as the print article, just displayed it in a more 21-century-friendly format. This was The Spoke's most interacted-with post for more than a month.
Running a Website: www.spoke.news
The Spoke's web presence helps extend its reach past the students and staff at Conestoga, past the members of the community, past the state lines. The Spoke's website, spoke.news, has connected the paper to bigger news organizations including The Philadephia Inquirer, CBS News and the Wall Street Journal. After I broke the news, these news organizations covered the same story, often relying on my photos, videos, text and personal testimony to produce their content.
Read, watch and learn about the stories that I and other news organizations published by clicking on the photos you see below.
Student Mask Walkout
In February 2022, as mask mandates were still in place almost everywhere, 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.
I ran after them — literally, I sprinted through the students as they marched out of the school — and documented the scene. My reporter's instincts kicked in: my job was to document the event, nothing else mattered. By the end of the school day, I published an article with my photos to spoke.news. The Spoke gained 500 followers on Instagram from this article.
Read the article and see my photos here or by clicking on the image.
Within days, The Philadephia Inquirer and CBS News picked up the story. They wanted to know what happened and needed a reputable source. Enter: me, the student journalist who covered the event live, from the scene. The Inquirer interviewed me about what happened and quoted me in an article. Then, a CBS reporter interviewed me on camera as the independent journalist who covered the walkout. The package aired on CBS Evening News that same day and then on CBS Morning News the day after.
The moral of the story? Local, student journalism matters. I was the journalist on-scene because I was the only journalist who could be on-scene. Without student journalists reporting on what happens during the school day behind closed doors — and posting it online for the world to see and read — we miss crucial stories.
Watch the videos and read the article by clicking on the images below.
