In a bout of writer's block, I decided one night to write something that would be easy and fast. For me, that means writing about Taylor Swift. But when I began writing, I realized that there was more depth to the topic than I had imagined, and the piece grew to be a much more serious deep dive into conspiracy theories and misogyny.
After a local school board election, a recount left music of the community with more questions than answers. Some of my earlier contacts reached out to me with information, making it clear that the community needed to hear the full truth from a reliable source. I decided to write this piece at 8 p.m. on a Saturday, and the recount confirmation meeting would take place the next Monday at 4 p.m. Because of the short timeframe, I gave myself a deadline of 3 p.m. the next day. The connections I had formed earlier in the election process proved to be incredibly useful, providing me with documents supporting every fact of the story.
I was inspired to write an article about the culture surrounding mass shootings after I read The Washington Post's piece featuring real photos from the scenes of mass-casualty events. I drew from both the Post's piece and my own interviews to make a commentary on the apathy I recognize across the country.
In October of 2023, I got my first taste of investigative journalism. There was an upcoming school board election in my district that had become very polarizing within the community, but I saw that the local news was doing little to circulate information about candidates. With the support of my journalism adviser, I set out to explore the controversies and issues at stake in the election.
When I learned of the new Iowa laws impacting transgender and nonbinary students in Iowa, I knew I had to write a piece that would showcase how various groups are affected. The resulting article is a conglomeration of students, teachers and parents who have already felt the impacts of the law, and I couldn't be prouder of how it turned out.