Semester Two
Senior Nights recognize graduating athletes
While the idea behind this story was interesting, I think I could've executed it better. Initially, I planned on talking about the history behind Senior Night traditions. However, none of the sources I asked knew where their traditions came from. Additionally, I could've also covered traditions of a greater variety of sports, but I found many of the traditions between sports to be fairly similar to each other. This story had potential, but if I had interviewed more sources or looked more in-depth about Senior Night traditions as a whole, I could've made it more compelling. That being said, I think the story I had conveyed the emotion and effort behind Senior Nights, and I especially liked the lede I used.
Prior to this story, I had never written about a news issue that was both important to the community and still in development. The day of story assignments, Palo Alto Online published an article about how PAUSD erroneously labelled some class of 2018 graduates as not having completed graduation requirements when they actually had. While there was a board meeting that night, I didn't see any articles with the information from that meeting besides mine. I didn't go to the said meeting, but the Board Correspondent recorded the part of the meeting that was relevant to the issue, which was extremely helpful. However, this made it hard to attribute sources. Additionally, when following up with those who had spoken at the meeting, it was hard to get quotes as the information I referenced from the meeting was out of context for them. Luckily, thanks to a video of the Board Meeting I found and the help of the writing coaches, the story was polished up. In the end I was satisfied with the result and it writing about such a current issue was a great experience!
As an avid reader, I have always appreciated the Little Free Libraries (LFLs) lining the streets of Palo Alto. So when I came up for the idea for this story on a whim, I was excited to write about it. I actually have a LFL right by my house made by my neighbors, so naturally they were the first ones I went to for an interview. It turns out they are enthusiastic about their LFL and do more upkeep for it than I realized, and they enjoyed discussing it with me. However, I had trouble connecting the story to Paly as the Paly librarians didn't know much about the LFLs and many teens don't use them. Luckily, I ended up finding a freshman who occasionally donates to LFLs. All in all, this story was fun to write and design, and my neighbors ended up loving it too!
As someone who's always enjoyed Career Month, I was interested in writing about the annual event. Unfortunately, I found it difficult to get in touch with students who could speak about the event, as many of the members of the student committee didn't respond to my requests for an interview. I did compensate by getting some interesting interviews with the teachers and admin behind the event and one of the speakers who was a Paly and Campanile alum. However, I think this story would have been more interesting and relatable to other students from the perspective of a student who actually organized the event, rather than the adults who oversaw it or attended it.
I started off the semester writing my best story of the year, if not my best story on The Campanile. While I was excited to work on a Spotlight piece, I was initially hesitant about the topic at first because I was worried about drawing assumptions about, overstating, or understating the role of the Chinese in the Palo Alto community, even as a Chinese American myself. However, this soon dissipated after talking with Chinese Palo Altans and doing research. Although more work was to be expected with a Spotlight, I was at first bewildered at the sheer volume of research and emails I was tasked with conducting, even for just my section. However, through the process I got better at communicating with adults and professionals through email and organizing research and data. I also learned how to synthesize my findings in the article with the findings of my partners and the feedback from editors. Additionally, I didn't expect how much time it would take to write the article itself; my partners and the writing coach took an entire Saturday writing it and most of production. This is also the longest article I've worked on, as it ended up being a few thousand words. Of course, I learned a lot about the Chinese community in Palo Alto and in the United States, and I now have a better understanding of their views in the community along with some of the national trends of Chinese immigration on a national scale. In the end, I believe the immense time and effort paid off, and I am very proud of the result.
Semester One
As an AP Lang student, I noticed that when I asked other AP Lang students what they were doing in their classes, I got differing answers. I thought it was strange that one course could have such different classes. Getting to explore the reasoning behind the various AP Lang teachers’ classes was valuable as a writer and a Lang student. I learned about the distinction between a curriculum and learning styles, along with more background info of the course. I also got to work with my brother on the artwork. Since I take my photos for all my other stories, it was a unique experience seeing another person’s artistic representation of my ideas, and I got to add my own feedback on his graphic as well. Although I still believe the AP Lang classes should be more unified, I also have a better understanding of the teachers’ decisions for their teaching methods, and I can now empathize with their reasoning.
This was my favorite story from this semester. Self-care may not seem like an important topic to many, but in writing this story, I learned more about the benefits and true meaning behind self-care. Practicing it regularly is shown to be relaxing and de-stressing, according to Ms. Spector from the Wellness Center and students who practice it. I enjoyed learning about self-care, and I hope that other students reading this article also realize its positive impact. It was also interesting exploring self-care from a more commercial point of view. I was surprised to find how often it is associated with spending, when in reality self-care covers a broad range of activities. After talking to students who practice self-care and seeing how they incorporate it into their lives, I also started working it into my routine.
As someone who isn't knowledgeable about athletics, sports stories are always difficult for me. This story was especially challenging, as I kept having to change my story idea based on other publications’ stories and a lack of sources. Profiles require getting more information after the initial interview than most types of stories. This was challenging considering the rushed nature of the story. When I was finding sources, I saw that Beto Luna was a well-loved coach to Paly students, even if they were coached by him many years ago. I hope that I conveyed his students’ feelings for him in the story and showed others why he was such an impactful coach. Additionally, I’m glad I got to know Luna; he was a kind and open person, and it was interesting learning about his background in professional soccer and how he came to be in Palo Alto. Despite my challenges with this story, I was happy with the final result.
It seems as if all Paly students know about the event of the release of new Apple products, especially considering we live in the Silicon Valley. However, not all students know all the information about the products themselves and their new features, myself included. This became even more evident to me when trying to find knowledgeable sources. I hope that in writing this story, I taught more Paly students about the features of the new Apple products. Even though not all students will purchase these products it is important that they are aware of modern technological advances that are being made.
My first story of this year was about students who work long shifts, especially on school days. I don't have a job during the school year, so it gave me good insight about the culture between working students and their fellow employees. I also hope that it helped students who are thinking of getting a job, or who have a job, advice about how to manage work and school.