News writing
Listening, seniors Jack Tell, Natasha Torkzaban, Maya Smith and Morgan Salisbury look at board member Kelly Jones as she discusses Gaggle policy changes.
Photo by Arabella Gipp
Showing off their socks, seniors Jack Tell and Morgan Salisbury support their cause by wearing journalism apparel. These socks emphasize the journalistic first amendment right to be protected from government monitoring. The school district often displayed their lack of awareness of the importance of this right.
Photo by Arabella Gipp
Student journalists seek policy changes prompted by AI monitoring of students
This is one of the most important subjects I've ever reported on.
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During my junior year, the school district implemented Gaggle - an A.I. technology that scans all student documents on Google Suites - for the purpose of monitoring students mental health. We as student journalists quickly took issue with this new heavy monitoring of our journalism process, as well as students' privacy rights.
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I quickly became an integral part of the fight, helping organize a black armband protest, and continuing to update the public on Gaggle news including this story featured in the image.
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After a long semester of fighting with the school district about AI monitoring of student work, the four journalists who had been advocating for the First and Fourth amendment rights of their student body met to discuss policy changes with the district.
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Although no final decisions were made, this was the first meeting where district representatives agreed to consider changes.
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However, the fight is far from over. The district went on to renew the service for 53,000 dollars and it is still implemented to this day
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Lawrence Police Chief Rich Lockhart speaks at a press conference on March 7 regarding the two shootings that took place in the Lawrence community within the last 24 hours. In Lawrence, we're not used to having a violent crime," Lockhart said in his address. "It's very hard when we happen to have two murders in two days."
Photo by Natasha Torkzaban
Two shooting deaths in 24 hours spark community concern​
After learning about events a public shooting outside the local library, I was eager to bring light to this safety concern in the community.​
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This was the second incident that had occurred within a two mile radius of Lawrence High School in the last 24 hours, and one of the victims was an LHS alum.
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The incident, paired two other deaths of LHS students that resulted from gun violence raised much public concern for children's safety.
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Covering this story involved attending my first press conference, where we received a statement from the chief of police to update the public about the custody status of the shooter.
It was the first press conference I had ever attended, and was a valuable learning experience for breaking news reporting. It taught me how to interview under pressure, a necessary skill for any journalist.
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Chat GPT arrives in the classrooms of Lawrence High
During the second semester of my sophomore year, Chat GPT had just emerged, and educators were scrambling with the idea of facing off with A.I.
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When Lawrence High's English department had its first round of ChatGPT essays, I decided to cover how this landmark moment in human history was affecting our school.
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Although teachers were uncertain about how this technology was going to impact education going forward, there was a resolute sentiment: technological innovation is inevitable - it's just a matter of how we should use it.
Hall of Honor welcomes new inductees​
After a group of journalism students started a project to diversify our school's hall of honor, two out of three of their nominees were selected for induction.
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This was the beginning of my Hall of Honor ​coverage and this specific story marked my first story of the series of two long reporting pieces.
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I reported on the ceremony and covered the experience of inductees’ friends and family members celebrating the honor.
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LHS Principal Quentin Rials speaks at the induction ceremony. Photo by Maya Smith
School board makes changes to instructional material complaint policy
In response to a nationwide increase in complaints about instructional materials including representation for people of color and the LGBTQ community, USD 497 officials decided to limit who could file such complaints.
In an effort to limit the censorship of minority representation, the district restricted people outside of parents and students from requesting the removal of course material.
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Graphic by Emily Hurd
Photo by Maya Smith
District raises graduation requirements back to pre-pandemic levels
The pandemic hit students hard at all levels.
That’s why our school district lowered graduation credits required for students to graduate to 21.​
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However, at the beginning of 2023, school board members restored the original requirement of 23 credits.
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While this was not a significant increase and did not impact all students, it did impact those seniors who had been constantly struggling in school and juniors planning to graduate early. This story that I wrote makes sure their voices are heard.
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Speaking at graduation, Superintendent Anthony Lewis honors members of the Class of 2024.
Photo by Bryndal Hoover
Superintendent Dr. Anthony Lewis announces resignation
The summer before my senior year, the USD497 superintendent resigned to take a job in another state.​​​
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Despite happening in the middle of summer break, I felt that this was important breaking news to cover.
That afternoon after the announcement, I worked to produce a quality story with the perspective of involved students, including the Student Body President, detailing his resignation and the district's reaction. Several other reporting on this story did not include quotations from outside.