reporting + writing
NEWS
The first story I ever wrote for El Estoque won a Best of Sno Award. I wrote it during the Journalism Camp that the FUHSD district puts on for student journalists, and to be honest I had no clue what I was doing. It was my first time constructing interviews, writing an article and publishing it. This was the article that showed me the world of journalism, and that is why this story is such an important story to me in a personal level. It reminds me of why I keep doing El Estoque even when it gets hard. It reminds me of the pride in myself that I felt when my mom and dad shared my article to family, the pride that I did something that stood out and got noticed.
illustration by Sophia D'Sa
FEATURES
Writing this feature story about a MVHS alum was undoubtedly my best experience writing for El Estoque. Even though my co-writer and I didn't make the deadlines for the article, I had the best experience interviewing for the first time in a while. The people we interviewed were friendly, warm and welcoming. They answered our questions with so much enthusiasm and depth that I felt like I had known them forever. Because of that we were able to write such a good article with so many good quotes. Despite scrambling to have the article make it to the magazine, this article showed me that while even though journalism can be extremely hard, in the end it's all worth it.
Photo by Evelyn Huynh | Used with permission
OPINION
When I learned I could write a column for my online story credits, I was excited. I hate interviewing—the hardest part of writing articles—so I thought it would be easy. I was wrong. My first column idea couldn’t be published, and I had to restart at the last minute. For days, I sat frustrated and upset, worried about my grade. One night, while sitting in my room crying, I suddenly felt a rush of motivation. In one day, I came up with a new column idea and completed a round of edits. The next day, I finished another, and the day after, two more. This column isn’t just my first—it proves that even when I’m behind, I have the determination to push through and get it done.
illustration by Alexandra Perrault
MORE OPINION STORIES
ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT
Arts and Entertainment was my first ever El Estoque section that I got to write for. This was one of the print articles that really showed me just how hard El Estoque can truly be. On the last day that we had to get our page design to our head graphics designer, we realized that the photo we wanted to use in the article had no photo credits, so we couldn't put it in our page design. So in the span of 45 minutes I had to draw from hand the two girls in the page design and send it off without making sure it was fully completed. Even to this day I wish I could have put more time into the design, it's still a constant reminder that staying on time and focusing really helps reduce stress, especially in a high demand class.
illustration by Kate Yang
MORE A&E STORIES