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Editing
As an editor, I not only push writers to produce compelling, thoroughly reported stories and op-eds. I also push to protect their voice. I also prioritize the perspectives of people from marginalized communities.
The Arts are a Lifeline For K-12 Students
I worked with then-high school student Eve Hill on a contributed essay for Teach For America. I helped her focus her essay on a topic that she was passionate about and could address with authority. I edited the draft for clarity and accuracy while being careful to preserve Eve's voice. Wrote the headline, dek and subheads.
Student Loan Debt Stalls Dreams for Some Grads
At a peak of national discussion about the burden of student loan debt, I recruited a freelance writer to take on the topic for Teach For America. I was the first-round editor for the draft. I also saw the potential for a strong follow-up story about one of the sources interviewed for this piece. The team produced a video based on that idea.
One Student's Experience With Homeschool
This is one piece of an editorial package on homeschooling that I edited for The Emancipator. I worked with the students to hone angles for their op-eds, which I then pitched to the news site. I also edited the drafts for accuracy, structure and narrative flow. I was careful to not supplant the writer's voice with my own.
Surviving Residential Boarding Schools
I oversaw the production of this story package. It started with an op-ed. The author wanted to talk to his father about his experiences at a U.S. residential boarding school for Native children. I asked the author to record the interview if he and his father were comfortable with that. I edited the essay and wrote the headline and subheds. Others on the team handled the visuals and audio editing. I wrote the script for the audio story.
Writing
Journalism is a hell of a drug. I say that not only because I realized my childhood dream of getting paid to write, but also because I’ve gotten to tell stories that make a difference and amplify marginalized voices.
Self-Care Is Important for Teachers Too
For many teachers, difficulties that had always been part of the job worsened with the coronavirus pandemi. I had seen — and pitched — articles and op-eds about the need to address students' mental health needs, but what about teachers? I posed that question to a D.C. public schools teacher longtime teacher for this article.
Job Search ‘Red Flags’
After talking to graduate students at my alma mater, I jotted down tips about red flags to look out for during the job hunt. That list, which I also shared in a networking group, became the foundation of this essay I wrote for a Poynter newsletter called The Collective.
Mississippi Schools Struggle with Poor Funding
This article, which I wrote as a freelancer for The Hechinger Report, analyzed the impact of inadequate school funding for Mississippi schools. PBS Newshour picked up the story.
I got a tip from a reader about the unusually high number of people who wrote in candidates instead of voting for the incumbent superintendent. I looked at the numbers and wrote this article.
While covering breaking news about an initiative that might cover most college costs for students in Guilford County, North Carolina, I wondered if it really would benefit “all” of them. That question and some reporting led to this article.
Out of curiosity, I filed a records request for fire code violations of Guilford County Schools. Then I spent days combing through hundreds of pages of documents to analyze the data for this article.
Building a School From the Ground Up
It's difficult to write "short," but my team didn't need a novel to introduce a video about an educator who was opening a charter school in Atlanta. I watched a draft of the video and wrote an intro that would reflect it without duplicating it. I challenged myself to make the copy tight and bright.
One of the best things about reporting on education was visiting schools and observing classes. While covering a local school board meeting, I learned the district needed funding for a program that incentivized teaching at hard to staff schools. I got to sit in a class of one of the teachers who benefitted from that program, and I was impressed. I tried to capture that magic in the story lead.
English Language Learners Face Barriers to Education
In 2014, Renaissance Journalism awarded me a reporting fellowship. I used the support and stipend I received to produce an editorial package about the barriers to education that students who are non-native English speakers faced. The community I covered in North Carolina was a significant refugee resettlement area. This package won an award from the Society for Features Journalism in 2016.
Photography
I took classes in photography and photojournalism as an undergraduate and graduate student. I’m obviously not a professional photographer, but I am proficient enough to take photos that aren’t terrible. I used a Canon DSLR camera for some of these, but most are iPhone pics.
