Journalist of the Year Portfolio

‘This is what a community should be’: My Sister’s Closet event features local art, collective spirit, women’s voices

June 26, 2025

This article covered a ribbon cutting for the relocation of My Sister’s Closet, a non-profit secondhand women’s clothing store. The program included the unveiling of a local artist’s rendition of the Statue of Liberty that celebrates the 19th Amendment and remarks from the mayor and other community members.

The challenge I faced writing this piece was synthesizing the various ideas involved and structuring them together in a cohesive way, and weaving photographs in throughout the text and controlling the pacing and length of the piece. I think I effectively communicated the important info, with appropriate anecdotes, to readers.

North, South high school teachers and staff to wear panic buttons in coming school year

July 23, 2025

Over the summer, when I was at school for an extracurricular meeting, I saw unfamiliar hardware with the Centegix company name. Curious, I looked it up—these were devices for a panic button system. I found the school board’s contract with the company, which was for two high schools in our district, and immediately reached out to the school district’s media contact. There were obvious questions: What will this system do? When will it go live? Is this contract a response to an incident? How will staff be trained?

The district only gave me vague answers—they said to look at the contract, and that the implementation is proactive and not reactive. But I still didn’t understand how the panic buttons actually worked. So, I reached out to Centegix itself, and connected with the school’s sales representative, who was more than happy to share details of the product’s capabilities with me.

My story broke the news about this new system. When the fall semester started, many teachers told me they first learned of it from my article. Two other local news outlets picked up my story.

Pushing Boundaries: New class broadens perspectives

Fall 2023; printed in 2024 Nikean Yearbook

Our school piloted the new AP African American Studies course in the 2023-2024 school year. The class faced criticism from politicians and commentators around the country. I interviewed the teacher, and our principal, who were both extremely proud to have the course offered at their school. Students enjoyed the course both in content and structure, which includes a research project and presentation as part of the AP exam grade.

This piece was hard to fit in the layout of the yearbook spread. With limited space, I had to choose each sentence carefully. Looking at this final version, I find it difficult to identify any sentence that can be cut. Each quote gives an important perspective on the course, and my limited background information provides necessary context.

Local artists to showcase paintings, photography, and music at monthly Gallery Walk

July 31, 2025

This piece previewed four exhibits for one of Bloomington’s monthly Gallery Walks. One was a surrealist photographer who juxtaposes historical and modern elements of U.S. culture in her work. Another featured artwork by clients of Stone Belt, Bloomington’s disability services and employment organization. One was a longtime curator. The last was a painter whose works featured a woman with a cat. She found that her own cat supported and comforted her when she went through treatment for breast cancer.

I interviewed and photographed three of the exhibiting artists before the Gallery Walk. It was fascinating to get to explore the worlds of these artists for the hour I had with each of them. The photographer patiently answered my personal, technical, and artistic questions. Stone Belt employees and clients took time out of their schedules to show me around. The painter invited me to her home and trusted me with the story of her illness and recovery. This simple feature of artwork made me feel more connected to my community, and reminded me why I love journalism.