In addition to showcasing diversity throughout my portfolio, it is important to me to show some of the more specific ways that I am committed to diversity in places that are not reflected throughout the rest of this portfolio. 

​

I am a Black female student who has grown up in both the City of St. Louis and St. Louis County, which is one of the most segregated areas in the United States. In school, I have experienced discrimination and microaggressions from not just my peers but some of my teachers as well. I have seen racism permeate the halls of our schools, hiding in the shadows of the lockers and lurking in the corners of classrooms. As I’ve grown and understood more of the world, I’ve learned that a huge root of this discrimination is ignorance, and that’s what sparks me to forge through my community with conversations and discussions of diversity, equity, and inclusion.

​

Even within the journalism sphere, I have met so many Black journalists and reporters who have told me of expectations of their hair and how they’d be looked at as “unprofessional,” causing them to straighten and relax their hair. The way that many members of the Black community speak has also been constantly criticized and belittled by a larger mainstream audience. The Editor-in-Chief of the Huffington Post, Danielle Belton, has held conversations with me on how being Black (and a Black woman, in particular) has impacted her journalism career, which sticks with me because it echoes many of my own experiences inside and outside of the journalism field. This is an essential part of why I believe the values of diversity, equity, and inclusion are valuable to journalism, and why it's important that the work that many in the professional leagues are putting in an effort to make is translating down to the student journalism level as well — hence, me and my own work.

​

When it comes to journalism, I live by the great journalist Ida B. Wells' words: "The way to right wrongs is to turn the light of truth upon them.” Throughout my four years in the Pathfinder, I've found that journalism serves as a great platform to shine a light on underrepresented topics and people.

​

Outside of school, I am an active and engaged participant in my community. In addition to being a part of many organizations that promote financial, cultural, and racial equity and awareness, I am the Chair of the St. Louis County Youth Advisory Board — a group under St. Louis County’s Boards and Commissions that gives policy recommendations to our County Council and County Executive. My civic and cultural engagement with the community of St. Louis has given me much insight on the various inequities spanning across our Metropolitan area, and that is one of the motivations that inspire me to push our staff towards covering events that need awareness in their own communities, as well as in others’ communities.

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

As a Black student attending a predominantly white institution, the importance of diversity, both in coverage and in the newsroom, is not lost on me. Many significant issues or topics can often be overshadowed without a realization of how said-issue affects the population of students at our school. However, I believe that attending a predominantly white school is even more reason to spotlight racial and ethnic identities that are often “othered” in the mainstream. 

 

As a student leader in my school community and especially through my position on the Committee Board of our school’s Black Student Union,  I find opportunities to raise awareness of many significant issues from conversations with our members. Some articles that were inspired by issues at our school include an article on the vilification of Black history in the curriculum and how students are impacted by it as well as rampant online racism. 

 

In addition, step is an underrepresented sport in the mainstream media, so it was essential for me to write a news piece on our district step team once they announced that they had gone through the 2022-2023 season as undefeated champions.

 

As an editor, I have also edited many stories surrounding a broad spectrum of communities and ethnicities at our school. For example, this superb piece covered Diwali and the inclusion of non-Hindu students at Parkway West. I edited and gave helpful feedback on this story. I also worked extensively with one writer to shape one of my favorite stories on the Pathfinder; this story discussed the issue of darker skin tones not being consistently photographed in school pictures. 

 

However, diversity is not just increasing opportunities on the frontier of race but all communities, which is why I, as Editor-in-Chief, am committed to ensuring our newspaper has diversity — of ability, gender, etc — to reaffirm that no one’s story is ever left behind. 

​

I am fortunate to be a part of a school and a district that doesn’t aim to restrict students’ voices, and because of this, we have a plethora of clubs, activities, and opinions to cover. Students and teachers can give their opinion as stated without fear of repercussions, and as a journalism program, we use that privilege to the fullest extent.

 

I am intent on making sure our story idea log features a wide range of topics for our staff writers to choose from. Whether it's themes on race and culture, hot-button issues, or stories about the people in our surrounding community, you can find them on our story idea log. As EIC, I work with the writers to refine story idea angles and ensure that each topic and issue is presented accurately and fairly.

​

In addition, we are dedicated to having a variety of sources as well. For example, though our male-to-female student population ratio is fairly even, we have, in the past, skewed toward interviewing the girls at our school. However, upon noticing this trend, I have encouraged our staff writers to interview more boys and non-binary students who attend our school to diversify the sources that we have in our newspaper. 

 

Based on the famed “Humans of New York” media, the Pathfinder has implemented our own “Humans of West” section. Though typically assigned to CJ1 students as beginner stories, these are open to anyone on the staff and are a great way to showcase different stories among our community at West. We have a cap of one Human of West per source, which motivates our staff to interact and interview various people with various hobbies, goals, and perspectives.

​

​