The five stages of grief – an eating disorder recovery story
One of the PBS SRL producers who was familiar with my eating disorder recovery story reached out to me for the On Our Minds podcast, a program about teenage mental health, and asked if I would be interested in creating a segment. My immediate thought was no. No way. It was too personal. But as […]
How families can support transgender and nonbinary teens
I produced this story about two transgender teens — Jake Waggoner and Wednesday Gomez — during the 2021 PBS Student Reporting Labs Summer Broadcast Academy. Creating this video allowed me to produce localized coverage during a national debate over trans rights for high school students as it was playing out in the Texas legislature. This […]
A New Normal for Elementary Students
During the middle of the second semester of my sophomore year, I felt a slump in both my academic performance and my work on staff. I credited it to my first full year back at school, which got me wondering: How are younger kids adjusting to school? To find out, I interviewed a family from […]
Mac Takes pink week pep rally outside
This video commemorated the first pep rally at McCallum since the pandemic started in 2020 and marked my first live event coverage in almost two years. It reminded me of how challenging it can be to rely solely on b-roll from one event, instead of being able to revisit locations to get additional footage in […]
Unmatched determination
There’s always interesting characters with stories to tell on any school campus. So when I heard about the lone female student on the McCallum wrestling team who was also on track to compete at the state competition for a second year in a row, I knew I had to meet her. Despite having an array […]
Interview with Influencer, Ro Mitchell
As I was working on my segment for On Our Minds, the producers decided they wanted the whole episode to be focused on the eating disorder recovery process. To help round out the coverage for this episode, they asked me if I would interview British social media influencer Ro Mitchell, who uses her platform to […]
Thank God it’s Friday
This was the first video I created during the 2021-22 school year, starring two of my most personable subjects yet, Ben Polega and his service dog, Friday. Ben’s story reminded me of why I love journalism — it allows me to tell stories about people who do amazing things, people who have persevered through life’s […]
Coffeehouse Makes a Comeback
This story covered the return of a favorite McCallum tradition — Coffeehouse — an in-school performance venue where students perform original songs, poetry and other written works. I worked with two other staff members, to teach them how to write and record voiceovers, as well as how to shoot b-roll. Because I was able to […]
McCallum: 70 Years Later
2023 was the 70 year anniversary of McCallum’s opening, which brought the opportunity for coverage of how the school has changed. Because of Austin’s rich history, I was able to be connected not only with McCallum Alum Maggie Slocum, who was part of the school’s first freshman class, but also 99-year-old Carl Shepherd who worked […]
The High School Experience: Interviews for Jostens Renaissance
Last spring, I worked on a project for Jostens Renaissance – a program that focuses on school culture – that was meant to show the high school experience from students at the beginning and end of their high school career. Even though I was given a list of questions to ask students on my campus, […]
