Aaralyn See
I am an art reporter for the Gigantea and I have been helping students share their stories from RHS. I write stories about RHS dance, photography spotlight, RHS band and RHS orchestra. Being a journalist has taught me how to socialize more with people, meet deadlines, have fun while working and much more! Something that is important about the work I do is that I share student stories and not many people are able to share their story. I'm proud of showing different perspectives through my story.
Semester 1 Stories
Dance Force Dances Their Way Through the Homecoming Rally
August 31, 2022
This story is about Dance Force's perspectives about what they do to prepare for the homecoming rally and some challenges they have to face. There are also different experiences from these dancers as some of them are seniors and it's their last homecoming rally and some of them are freshmen, so it is their first homecoming rally at Redwood High School. It shows good interviewing skills as there are different opinions. It also shows good reporting as there are some background stories about the people being interviewed and many people may not know about that and find it more interesting.
This story matters because the dancers are able to share their experience about preparing for the homecoming rally and many people may not know how it feels. So they are able to share their story and tell others how much effort they go through to show the school spirit. It informs people who are not in dance and have never experienced this before and also it can impact people who enjoys dancing and getting involved in school activities to join Dance Force in the future. This helps the readers to get an idea of the things Dance Force students have to go through.
Hip Hop Club Prepares to Bring the Heat at the Homecoming Parade
September 2, 2022
A few hip hop club students share some struggles they have to face while preparing for the homecoming parade. This indicates one of my journalistic strengths because it shares what they have to go through like the hot weather. It shows good interviewing skills as the replies are different. It also shows good reporting because of the specific details about where and what time it will take place, the weather, the amount of clubs participating and how one of them is the vice president of the club.
This story matters because not everyone knows their experience, so it is good to share their point of view of how they prepared for this. It informs the people who are going to the football game to look forward to it like the players, students, parents, teachers and many others. It impacts the audience who saw them perform to encourage them more. This helps the readers to get a better understanding of how dancers face the struggles with the hot weather.
Photography Spotlight: Hannah Kempf
September 22nd, 2022
A spotlight story about this one talented photographer named Hannah Kempf and behind the whole process of her being her now, holding a camera. This indicates my journalistic strengths because it shows her understanding of photography and how she got into it. It really does show the good interviewing skills because just by the response, you can tell the questions were good enough to get some background history, It shows good reporting as many people would not knows the things about her that are in the story.
This story is important because this student is really talented and people need to recognize her skills more and this story exactly helps that reason. This informs people who are interested in photography and it can impact them to start now. It helps the reader to enjoy her art work that she has put a lot of effort into.
Redwood Band is ready to show off their skills at Band Showcase
September 30th, 2022
The Redwood Band prepares for their band showcase and two important student figures who are in the band share how they are feeling about it. I think it indicates my journalistic strengths because of all the information stated in the story for anyone who is even more curious and wants to check it out in person. It shows both good interviewing skills and reporting since the responses seem to be enjoyable and the story all together came out very neat and amazing.
This story really matters because many people underestimate the students who are in a band and all their hard work shown in performances. This can inform a lot of people like the parents of the kids, other students, other teachers, etc. It mostly impacts students who see bands at football games but not think much of them and their amazing work because behind the scenes they put in a lot of hours by practicing for many performances.
Orchestra Prepares for First Concert
October 27th, 2022
This story is mainly about Redwood's orchestra preparing for their first 2022-2023 concert which is a big deal as they do not get many chances to show their talent. This story isn't my best and I feel like i can do better with adding more information. It shows pretty good interviewing skills as the responses are diverse, but it would have been nice with more quotes. The reporting is not really good since it does not have much details about the concert. This helps the reader understand the student's thoughts about their first concert.
The importance of this story is to share with others the students thoughts of the orchestra and the concert. This informs people who do not know about the concert and to check out their other concerts in the future. It impacts people who have less knowledge of the orchestra and are interested in them. It helps the reader community because it gives a better understanding of all the mixed emotions the students have while preparing for their concert.
Who CODA Guessed It?
December 2nd, 2022
CODA stands for California Orchestra Directors Association and it is an honor group that has limited spots and they require audition, so different high schools from all over california can join. 9 students from Tulare county, who are all Redwood students made it in. This indicates my journalistic strengths such as interview questions and putting the whole story together with my partner. This story is a good example of a good interviewing skill because these students have many opinions and they are all shared in this story. It also shows good reporting because of how detailed and organized the story was, with the help of my partner.
This story really matters and shows how dedicated students in redwood are. It is a good story that was also surprising since Redwood students were the only ones that made it in from the entire Tulare County. It informs people who did not know about this whole CODA journey and had no idea about what CODA is and how to audition for it. It impacts other orchestra players who did not audition or did not make it in to thrive even higher. This helps our reader community because it shows that many students can accomplish big things at even a young age and it all depends on the effort they put in.
Aaron Buckley finds inspiration in music, plans to continue journey at University of California, Davis.
January 23rd, 2023
Aaron Buckley is a student at Redwood high school that made it into All state. They share their whole experience like how they got into percussion, what made them try out, how they felt when they made it and many more experiences. This is a type of story I don't do often, but I felt confident about this story since I had my partner help me with this amazing story. I feel like this story gives a good example of deepdive and it gives a good amount of detail about the whole purpose of this story.
The story shares many different experiences from Aaron's perspective that many others have not experience or some others that can relate to it in a way. It lets people know Aaron's whole experience that leads them to getting into All state. This can impact other musicians that are new, people who want to become a musician, classmates to work harder and many others. It helps the reader community because it shows that anyone is able to do anything they want if they try and work hard for it even if they're new at it.
Luciano Noguera stars as Mr. McAfee in Bye Bye Birdie
February 2nd, 2023
Luciano Noguera is playing Mr. McAfee which is the main role in Bye Bye Birdie. He shares his experience about the character he plays, the rehearsals and how he feels about his role. This is my first muscial story, so I think I did pretty good and I do these type of stories often. This story gives a good experience to the audience, so they have a good idea of what muscial actors have to do. People who read this story before the musical will get a good understanding of the whole play.
This story shares how Luciano Noguera was feeling throughout the whole process. It informs people more about the character he is playing, things he did to prepare for this moment and his overall emotions.
The Tech Behind the Text: Nathan Perez ‘23 Brings Talent and Experience to “Bye Bye Birdie” Program Creation
February 3rd, 2023
Nathan Perez is a student at Redwood high school and he designed the program for the muscial "Bye Bye Birdie". He is also the president of the graphic design club and helped with the musical program last year, so he is quite experience. This story is interesting and it taught me things I did not know about the whole process of the muscial and the amazing achievements students have done. The whole process of creating is different from other graphic designs and Nathan Perez talked about it.
The story overall shared the how Nathan got into the program, the experience of creating it, his motivation and the other things he does that is similar to the progam. This can encouarge many others who are interested in the same topic as Nathan Perez, since Redwood will need a student to the design a program for muscial next year. It helps the readers community because the encouragement from someone can lead a person into success.
Redwood Dance Shows Class of 2027 Their Style
February 16th, 2023
Reflection
Where have I been?
Before I took journalism I thought it was more of an individual work than a team work. Also, one of my friends who had taken journalism told me what the class was about. I thought it would be more of us, writing down our feelings, thoughts and it had a bit of art in it like drawing because of a personal journal. I thought journalism would be pretty stressful with writing, interviewing new people and talking to people on the same team as me.
Where am I now?
I can currently write stories with less stress and more understanding. I can interview people on a daily basis with my own questions. I can write different diverse story topics like band, orchestra, dance, etc. Journalism has helped me be more sociable and how to start conversations and to keep them going because of the amount of interviews I have done.
Where am I going?
Two of my personal goals for next semester is to pass all of my classes with A's and to get more involved in school things like after school activities, clubs, etc. A goal I have for my whole section next semester is for everyone to be more open and write more diverse stories instead of writing one topic like band. Also for the writers to meet the deadline next semester just like they are doing this semester.