In school I participate in many clubs and fun extracurricular activities. I am currently the president of my school’s art club, and a social media manager for my school’s black student union. During my sophomore year, I began a literary arts magazine entitled “Silent Voices” where I allowed my peers at schools to share their talents with either art, poetry or writing. Every year, the yearbook team at my school and I collect either anonymous or identified work from students and publish them to the magazine for the school to share and enjoy. I also participate in theatre at my school with my friends. This year I shared the stage with them when we preformed our adaptation of “Legally Blonde” in February.

Photography is my main focus at the moment when it comes to a career or college. During all four years of high school, I have taken regular to advanced film photography classes. I was first introduced to the basics of the darkroom my freshman year and have since made it my own by engaging in many multimedia and alternative projects. I am less familiar with digital photography and editing, but am more than open to learning more about it in college. This summer, I have begun a film photography course for middle schoolers through Horizons Atlanta where I teach kids around the Atlanta area who may not have access to film cameras or a darkroom to be introduced to the creative space that means so much to me. It is a major passion of mine to share the opportunity I am fortunate enough to have with others.

Some of my other major passions and interests include music and film. Some of my favorite artists include Stevie Wonder, Frank Ocean and Devonté Hynes. I have never been to a concert, but it is a dream of mine to go to one and take pictures for social media or an article. My passion for film and movies is also extremely prominent in my life. I do not make films, but watching them is one of my favorite pastimes. I enjoy going on Letterboxd and sharing my opinions on films and engaging with my friends. Some of my favorite films include Pixar’s “Ratatouille” and Gaspar Noé’s “Climax.”

Hey everyone! My name is Lucia Rodriguez and I’m from Decatur, Georgia. I’m currently 16 years old and still don’t have my license. I have an older sister named Andrea who goes to UGA and majors in international relations and both my parents work at CNN. We have two cats named Moony (Harry Potter reference) and Lumi (short for lumiere, the candelabra in “Beauty and the Beast”) which we adopted only two years ago. I attend Druid Hills High School and am about to enter my senior year which is crazy to think about. I spend my summer lifeguarding, hanging out with my friends and family, shopping (mostly window) and tanning.

Apart from my life in Atlanta, I have a life in Mexico. Both of my parents grew up in Mexico City and our entire family resides there. As a result of this, I’ve been traveling to Mexico ever since I was 6 months old to visit family. Spanish is my first language but I am fluent in English as well and I am eternally grateful for the opportunities that knowing a second language can provide. I would spend every summer growing up in Mexico, traveling across the country and learning so many valuable life lessons. I’d never had to deal with backlash for being Mexican until high school, but it ended up only making me prouder of being a Mexican-American.

Something that I think adds to who I am as a person is my love for literature. I always grew up reading books, from Geronimo Stilton to the Magic Treehouse but it wasn’t until quarantine that I became a true book worm. I read a total of 74 books in 2021, ranging from fantasy to biographies. I have also always been very into movies & TV which I believe veered me into finding a creative writing driven path in school. When my freshman year literature teacher asked me to join the newspaper, I said yes without hesitation.

I am now about to embark on my third year writing for the school newspaper, The Spotlight and I have been promoted to editor-in-chief. I’ve written features, sports, news, opinions and reviews but I enjoy writing features, news and opinions the most. Last year I had the opportunity to interview Katie Rinderle, the first teacher in Georgia to get fired under the pretense of banned books, and wrote a news piece on that issue. As of now, I plan on applying to college with a major in journalism but am unsure if that is what I really want to do.

Hello! My name is Marin Torres and I was born in Houston, on Aug. 7th, 2009. My parents moved my brother and I to Athens, Ga was I was 2 and I’ve lived ever since. I am currently a rising sophomore at Oconee County High School. I swim and I also play tennis. In the fall and winter, my afternoons are spent at the pool, at swim practice. During the spring and summer, my afternoons are spent on the tennis court.

I love to read and listen to music. One of my favorite authors is Mitch Albom, whose books I always love. However, Jane Austen and George Orwell come in close second. I would like to think that I have pretty good music taste, although I pretty much listen to anything, from Chappell Roan to the Lumineers to Hall and Oates. Along with reading and music, I love watching TV. My go-to’s are “Gilmore Girls,” “Gossip Girl” and “the OC.” Sitcoms, I will admit, are my guilty pleasures, such as “Modern Family,” “Abbott Elementary” and “Kim’s Convenience,” My other hobbies include playing the piano, collecting records and paint by numbers. I have two younger brothers, one is 13 and the other is 12. I also have a dog named Obi (after Star Wars) who is turning 2 in July.

My name is Andrew Davis. I am a rising freshman going to Campbell High School’s IB program. I do chorus and play soccer. I sing bass and play as a central midfielder. I listen to too much Taylor Swift for some reason (I’m not aware how I ended up listening to so much of her music, I heard some and thought it was good.) My favorite album of hers is Red, but my favorite album overall is renaissance by Beyonce. I love journalism and I think that it is something that I could get into as an adult. I also speak Spanish pretty well.

A few favorites of mine:

Show: DC Legends of Tomorrow. Food: spaghetti. Song: Dear John or Virgo’s Groove (changes very often) Soccer team: Manchester City Video game: FC24

I have a large family, as my dad has 9 siblings. My dad is from Atlanta, while my mother is from Chicago. As a result of where my mother is from, I have been to Chicago very many times. I have 2 siblings of my own, one sister and one brother. They are both much older than me, 29 and 31 respectively.

hi, im madison connor and im a rising senior at hebron christian academy. I am a huge swiftie, as well as a fan of chappell roan, harry styles, olivia rodrigo, and sabrina carpenter. For the longest time I thought I would see sports in my future career, considering that i played volleyball and soccer for years and years, however, this quickly changed when i faced injury after injury and bad experience after bad experience. my mental health as well as physical health was deteriorating, and i decided to quit sports. i was mostly unsure of what would be next until i saw a production of newsies jr., and decided that i wanted to try theater. i tried theater, and i absolutely adored it.

this newfound love of theater led to a reintroduction of my passion for literary arts. ever since I was a kid, I had always expressed my feelings with a pen, writing songs, poems, or even short stories, because i found that symbolism and writing was sometimes easier than direct communication, and years later, this was still true. However, i was still unsure of what to do, especially considering that I had quit sports. I found the answer within my 10th and 11th grade language arts classes. we read literary classics like Julius Caesar, Animal Farm, and 1984, and I fell in love with history and language arts once more, combined with how it ties into modern politics, which led me to my next epiphany: journalism.

Journalism for me is a form of simple communication to the outside world of what is going on, sprinkled in with the occasional opinion. I experienced this the most in my AP Lang class, where my teacher would make us choose a news article on a controversial topic, and report on it. The interesting part of this assignment was that i would always choose a topic that made others uncomfortable, especially since I contradict the average opinions at my school, and I would challenge those opinions every chance I got. This natural form of argumentation so deeply embedded within me led me once more to journalism, because I can tell someone else’s story, using my unique background and knowledge, to justify the unexpected opinion of a girl from a small town and small private school within Dacula, Georgia. Since then, I have been developing my own opinions through hours of research, reading, and experimentation, so that way I can bring a fresh and unique outlook to my otherwise bland high school, and that is exactly what journalism means to me.

Hi! I’m Liv. I’m 16 years old, and I come from a little town called Dublin in the-middle-of-nowhere Georgia. I go to West Laurens High School, and I am a junior officer for SkillsUSA, and an At-Large representative for the Dublin City Youth Council. I first discovered my love for writing when I was 11, during quarantine. My mom had always encouraged me to read, which eventually inspired me to write a book of my own. Although the final product of the countless hours I spent in front of my mom’s laptop was no astounding work of literature, it did spark my passion for writing.

I hope to attend the University of Georgia and major in journalism so that I can go on to write for magazines or even be an author. Although I have not yet decided exactly what career I intend to pursue, I know that I want to spend the rest of my life writing. I believe that the University of Georgia would be an exceptional place to begin.

Aside from writing, I love to read. I read books of all genres, but my favorites are YA fantasy and romance. This year, I have read 20 books so far, and am working towards my goal of reading 50 books in 2024. The authors I tend to enjoy most are Emily Henry, Suzanne Collins and V.E. Schwab. I am also a pianist and have been playing for eight years. When I was young, I used to dread my piano lessons and beg my mom to let me quit, but now I am thankful that she made me push through. Playing the piano has become my favorite hobby and my proudest accomplishment. My preferred type of music to play is the classical style, such as Beethoven and Mozart, but I also love to arrange my own piano covers of pop music on my own time.

I have been swimming since I was very young and now am on three teams. I swim for my High Schools varsity team, the Capitol Sea-Devils and my neighborhood team The Somerset Dolphins. I love swimming because it brings a sense of community and great team bonding. As well as playing sports, I also enjoy taking photos. In the spring of my freshman year of high school I took photos for the girls lacrosse team and helped out taking photos for The Dolphins. Photography and writing both are parts of my interest which is why media and journalism are paths I would love to continue to learn and explore.

I have attended a sleep away camp in Hartford, Maine since 2018 named Camp Wekeela. I learned many important traits there. I am a very independent person from camp, and it taught me to make and keep in touch with friends all over the globe. When I was young, I waited all year just to go back. Those 2 months in the place I called my second home was all I cared about. However I think one of the most important aspects was not having my phone or other electronics. In 2024 we are all attached to the hip with our phones and its important to remember how to be with people without then.

I am dyslexic, so things come to me a bit harder then some others. My education in London was struggle as kids are taught to read around 5 to 6 years old. It wasn’t until I moved to Maryland that my teacher caught my struggle. I attended a program to reteach me to read. Growing up I thought having dyslexia was the end of the world, but as I have grown up it has taught me to look at things differently. I challenge myself and take classes that other kids who also have learning challenges don’t usually take. I took AP government my freshman year. It was a great chance to see how AP classes are formatted and taught me what to and not to do for my future AP courses.

I love spending time with my friends and family, I am the oldest of 3. I have younger brother who is 13, a younger sister who is 10 and a dog named Archie. I love to travel and listen to music and I am very excited to get my license. I went to Stagecoach Music Festival in April in Palm Springs, California where Coachella is.That’s it from me!

Hi readers, My name is Grace and I’m about to enter my junior year of high school. I’m originally from New York City but I spent 4 years in Washington D.C and am now going on to my second year living in Palm Beach, Florida. I spent my sophomore year and now going into my junior year at Oxbridge Academy in West Palm Beach. I have little experience in the journalism aspect of writing but I have always had a peaked interest in poetry and short stories. I am now interested in learning about journalism because I want to write for my school paper and help put the yearbook together, and I’m hoping journalism can help cement some fundamentals of writing for me. Writing has always been something I enjoyed learning more about, I also enjoy reading articles and blogs which is another reason I’m interested in Journalism.

I’ve now moved three times across the U.S. from New York City to Washington D.C. to Florida; this has helped shape me into who I am right now. It is fair to say I’ve had many different experiences and I’ve been exposed to different styles of life and circumstances which has helped me mature and evolve quicker than the average teenager. By spending most of my formative years in NYC and Washington D.C., I’ve cemented certain values, societal views, and judgments that threw me into a culture shock after moving to Florida. I am grateful for being able to experience all different kinds of places and livelihoods but it’s been a struggle to figure out exactly who I am and where I belong. I believe this is part of the reason journalism has caught my eye. At a young age, there are already topics, controversies, and societal issues I want to talk about because of the things I’ve been exposed to growing up.

Living in cities most of my life, I never really got into the whole sports world until I started going to an all-girls sleepaway camp. I was 7 years old when I was introduced to the sailboat, and ever since then, sailing has been my outlet for everything. I was so infatuated with sailing that for four years in a row, I triple-booked sailing on my camp schedule so I could do it all day, over and over again. Everyone thought it was silly but now sailing is an advantage I have, especially once moving to Florida. I now get the chance to sail competitively and I get to be part of a team for the next two years there is nothing I find more joy in than doing what inspires me and getting to be part of a team during this time of my life.

I’m pretty much an open book, I love binge-watching shows with my mom, and I’m especially into British murder mysteries right now. I have Raising Canes at least twice a week and I love to drive around with my friends whenever we’re bored. I love teddy bears, I’ve been building my collection since I was 5 years old and I’m going to keep collecting. I go back home to Washington D.C. at least once a month so I can be with my friends and family there. Living in Florida has been really nice, my friends and I take any opportunity we can to tan at the beach (which is every day). I love to laugh, 99% of the time if you see me I’m laughing. This is a quick overview of my life and where I am right now!

Peace – Grace Bennett