You know that phrase, “I have ink in my veins?” Well, I can safely say it applies to me. 

 

I’ve grown up around journalism my entire life. Tracing all the way back to my great- grandfather, I come from a long line of journalism majors who have taken their skills in many different directions–newspaper advertising and marketing, teaching and advising, editing, reporting and writing–it’s practically the family business. 

 

Fifth grade is really when my own pursuit of journalism began. Since I could remember, I listened with rapt attention to my mom’s stories of covering everything from 9/11 to New York Fashion Week for newspapers, magazines and websites, and I wanted to give it a try myself. So, I arranged with my teachers for classroom space, corralled a group of my peers to meet after school and we soon put out the first issue of The Slavens 411. My grandfather, a “journalism god” according to his former high school students, saw my scrappy little publication and he and my grandmother agreed to work with our staff to produce more issues. 

 

And they were a hit. In fact, after seeing the success of our after-school program, the administration added journalism as a class offered to middle school students. This recognition and opportunity propelled my passion for journalism forward and I continued to pursue it in high school.

 

My advisor tells me I am the only student during his tenure who has been a part of all three media staffs offered at Arapahoe–and I kind of love that because the variety has made me a more well-rounded journalist. My freshman and sophomore years, I was on the yearbook staff, where I reported, designed and took photos. I have a deep appreciation for the creative freedom I had in that class to go beyond traditional spreads and design pages that students could really connect and even interact with. As a freshman, I created a spread about how fashion influences our student body and included a full page style quiz showcasing Arapahoe students as representatives of different styles.  

 

My yearbook experience also taught me that my passion in journalism is seeded in writing, so, as a junior, I joined the newsmagazine staff for the chance to pursue more reporting. I wrote a Colorado Student Media Association award-winning editorial that year and profiled many of the student athletes in the school who committed to play collegiate sports. 

 

The story on college athletes opened my eyes to what I really love to cover–people and sports–and inspired me to carve out a niche for myself in our media program. Over the summer before my senior year I worked with my advisor to bring our sports-focused online platform, The Spear, back to life after a hiatus. 

 

While I love the print medium, I know the vast majority of my peers get their news and information from social media and online platforms, so I have worked hard to develop new Instagram strategies to cover school athletics in a way that is quick and accessible, but also meaningful. 

 

I’ve really honed in on a formula for posting content and informing the viewer that has gained a lot of engagement with my high school’s media account which has changed the way our program and audience view us as a media publication.

 

As technology continues to change, I believe journalists must be willing to change along with it. We must reimagine our storytelling and it is crucial that we meet our readers where they are. I am proud of using Instagram to share actual reporting, rather than simply using the school media account as a promotional spot announcing the next big game or event. 

 

I’m proud to enter college as a fourth-generation journalism major and am excited, as media consumption continues to evolve, for the chance to continue developing and adapting my skills. Plus, in a digital-first journalism world, all that ink in my veins will be a lot less messy.