One of the most defining aspects of my time in high school was the nationwide teacher shortage. At the end of my sophomore year, more than 20 teachers had left McCallum. Undoubtedly this gave the school’s hiring team a good deal of work. It also created quite a lot of work for The Shield staff, which was committed to covering all of the new teachers that were arriving on campus. This project required contributions from everyone on staff, and mine was interviewing and profiling the school’s new yearbook adviser Frank Webster. Even though the article I wrote about Mr. Webster was not hard-hitting news, it did serve as his unofficial introduction to students and staff. And at a time when our school was already fractured by a teacher shortage, any way that The Shield could help build connections between students and educators was meaningful work.
Recognitions: First place – online personality feature, SIPA (2023)
