Reporting & Writing
Features
1) One donation, three saved lives; WA HOSA’s bi-annual blood drive is back
2) The year of the dragon: another successful WA Lunar New Year celebration
This was a really cool story to write about because it taught me so much about blood donations, even getting to see the famous “Blood Mobile” in person. But the highlight of this process came unexpectedly after I asked the event coordinator for a list of teachers who donated blood, just to get a new perspective. When I sat down with a math teacher, I expected him to tell me that it saves lives at no expense. But while he mentioned the statistics, he also told me a much more personal story about how blood donations have helped his loved one. It was such an honest and beautiful conversation that I would have never had were I sitting in his classroom, and it reminded me of my love for feature writing.
Writing this piece was not only informative to my community, but simply enjoyable for me. As I advanced through the ranks of the newsroom, I realized how crucial it was to immerse myself in what I was writing about. That means attending meetings, sitting in on conversations, and participating in events. It was the best way to fully capture what something meant to a subject. So for this piece, it was fascinating to learn so much about Chinese culture and tradition, try delicious food, and watch groups perform incredible dances and music. I felt that allowing myself to experience the event as an attendee while also actively taking notes and interviewing others allowed me to write the most honest version of this article.
3) Sending Sunshine radiates positivity between generations
This was such a lighthearted article to write, but at the same time showcased the group’s incredible impact. I interviewed a group of students who had started a club that made cards for individuals in nursing homes, and I could tell by just attending one meeting how passionate they all were about it. It was such a nice break from writing intense news articles about town meetings and policy changes, but proved to me that people need good news just as much as they need the hard news.
4) Game changer: Nielsen kicks off WA Girls’ Flag Football
I started investigating this article in the early months of 2025, but didn’t publish it until March. What I initially thought was just the addition of a new sport actually unraveled a history of disregard toward women's sports, making it a complicated process to write all aspects of the story. But after attending multiple practices, talking with athletes and getting to know the team, the words came easy. It was rewarding to be able to see the community rally in such a way, as even the coach had attributed his contributions to his pure love for the sport. Furthermore, it showed me the dueling impact articles can have. On one hand, I was writing about a bunch of girls who were in love with a sport. On the other hand, I was showing others that these young women were legit, and deserved MIAA varsity status.
5) Bonenfant and Clark warm hearts with ‘Hot Cocoa & Harmony’
I remember scrolling on Instagram and coming across an album. Almost giddy with excitement, I pitched the idea after an editorial meeting and two of my co-editors, Aaarshia Bhattacharyya and Srivas Arun, quickly jumped at the chance to collaborate. I think because of how many reporters we had on the project, this article drew out a new sense of bravery within me. Although we had a preliminary interview with the student musicians at school, we decided to take it a step further and asked to visit their home studio. To our surprise, they said yes. As we came upstairs after the interview, we ran into one of the student’s fathers who we asked to spontaneously interview. As nerve racking as it was to be in someone else's home, interviewing adults that didn’t know who I was, it taught me that courage is always rewarded within journalism.
News
1) Enhancements to Annual Town Meeting aim for higher accessibility and wide-spread attendance
After dozens of people were unable to attend our local town meeting due to accessibility restrictions, my town reassessed its ability to meet resident needs. As we entered the next fiscal year, I watched as separate groups banded together to create solutions that would enable more participants to attend. This included free childcare, more parking space with shuttle service, and the purchase of more voter clickers. I wrote this article as a way to condense all of the incredible work Westford was doing to improve itself, and it was ultimately shared across social media. It was an opportunity to tie in my interests in government with community engagement, and I hope that at least one person realized they were able to vote because of the new outlets of accessibility.
2) Four major takeaways from Westford’s 2025 Annual Town Meeting
3) Westford’s first Indigenous Peoples’ Day Observance elevates engaged conversations on heritage
This project was a large undertaking that I was lucky enough to work on with a fellow editor, Grace Hsu. There were a lot of hot topics on the annual town meeting agenda that people were eager to know the outcome of, but no student wanted to sit through hours of procedures to find out. So, while Grace was broadcasting live results on each agenda item, I was taking notes on public comments and reading through what each verdict meant for the town. At the end of a long day we went home and each wrote half of the article, detailing the highlights of the meeting.
To this day, this is one of my favorite pieces. I’d heard about this event through online flyers, but it was sparsely known amongst the student population. I went by myself and I can remember waiting outside on the town common for a good 15 minutes before realizing that they had moved the event inside across the street due to weather (whoops!). But it taught me to just keep moving as I quickly apologized to the event organizers and started conducting interviews as they set up. But as I spoke to more and more people, I realized there was a much deeper significance to this observance. What I thought was a simple event honoring Indigenous Peoples’ Day was actually a town-wide controversy, dating back to citizens petitions and groups campaigning to only recognize Columbus Day. So in writing my article, I did my best to outline the timeline of getting the observance instated while balancing both perspectives. I realized how important it was to go into an interview with an open mind. There are always so many layers to a story, but your subject can’t tell you if you won’t let them. It also ended up placing fourth for news writing at the spring NESPA convention!
4) WA takes the fast lane to safety with newly assigned parking spots
After returning from summer break, my school decided to assign seniors specific spots in the parking lot, a new policy that caused a lot of initial outrage. I wrote this story generally indifferent about the situation, which allowed me to really understand the perspective of the administration. They told me about previous incidents where trees crushed cars, electrical wires were broken, and other catastrophes threatened the parking lot. In all of these situations, it was incredibly difficult to ask students to move their cars, as they had to individually search up each license plate. Still, I heard the frustration of the students who were stuck in bad spots, causing 10 minutes to be added to their departure. This piece taught me the importance of going into news coverage with an open mind. I truly feel both sides of the divide were able to see a new perspective through this piece.
5) WA removes phone ban from DLTs in newly updated policy
This article required a quick turnaround, as the new policy allowing phones in DLTs was sudden and unexpected. I interviewed deans, students, and teachers to shed light on all perspectives, and ultimately published without much consideration. Unfortunately, I quickly received an email that my information was slightly off, stating that phones were not allowed in the library. In every interview I’d had with the administration the exception was never mentioned, still I felt horrible for the error. But after correcting the statement, I ran into an old teacher who told me people were citing my article in the library as a reasonable excuse for their phone. It’s easy to get discouraged in student journalism, worried about who is really paying attention to your work. This piece showed me how much of an impact my projects really had. It rejuvenated my will to write, knowing that I was actively contributing to fueling my community with knowledge. However, it also cautioned me to verify all angles of a story.
Opinions
1) Maintain academic opportunities; decrease 8th grade Algebra 1 admission requirements
2) A step in the right direction means stepping off the gas
Before this article, I struggled to fully lean into the alternate style of opinion writing. I loved writing profiles, but found it difficult to find or even articulate an opinion worth writing about. But as district budget cuts threatened future students’ ability to take math classes, I suddenly felt called to write this piece. It was a difficult topic to research, as a majority of the math department was hesitant on the topic. I ended up sending emails to every single math teacher in the district, K-12, hoping to garner some input on the topic. Thankfully a few responded, and after reading through an informational packet my mother had received for my younger sister, I was able to piece together research that proved students’ ability to qualify for a class if the requirements were adjusted.
By this article, I had started to get the hang of opinion writing. I quickly realized that the problem wasn’t that I didn’t have opinions, but that I struggled to identify them. But as I took the commuter rail for the hundredth time into Boston, I thought to myself, “why doesn’t everyone utilize this efficient form of transportation?” I’d watch as groups of friends arrived in hordes of cars to events, simply for the sake of convenience. That’s when I decided to write about the benefits of reducing carbon emissions caused by individual transportation. Through my research I learned how a set volume of gasoline produces an amplified CO2 output when burned, which absolutely fascinated and devastated me. The research taught me so much about the global impact of cars and I was proud of my ability to outline clear and realistic solutions for readers.
3) When rhetoric becomes reality
After watching a close friend battle a severe eating disorder, I realized how ingrained self-hatred was in students' language. This piece had been something I had been aspiring to write about for a while, but always seemed to fall short when it came to finding sources, as it seemed inappropriate to ask strangers about their self-perception. After a workshop at the National Journalism Convention, I realized the best thing to do was start. I spent over two months collecting sources, oftentimes connecting through other reporters on our staff. Through my research, I uncovered grueling truths around wrestling weight culture, social media language, and student stories. Finishing was one of the most rewarding experiences I’ve had in journalism. I felt that it not only paid tribute to my friend, but also to every student who was struggling with a similar invisible battle.
When you’re a wrestler and essentially you can’t eat, or you’re limited to the amount of food that you can eat, then you’re not getting the full nutrients that you’re supposed to, so it affects the way that you feel.
Ash
It’s fascinating. No one is happy with their body, whether it can do good skills or not.
Martha
My mirror was like my greatest enemy and greatest friend, because the body dysmorphia really made me see something different every day.
Molly
I feel like it’s really common to hear girls talking badly about themselves or their body or about food.
Sadie
Sports
1) WA Girls’ Lacrosse advances to state championship after nail-biting 11-10 win over Wellesley
Going into journalism, I knew that sports coverage wasn’t going to necessarily be my forte. During my first two years in the class, I often covered the same sports each season, finding comfortability in the terminology I knew. But after my school’s girls’ lacrosse team advanced to the semi-finals, there was an urgent need for coverage and I was the one to fill it. I traveled 30 minutes to reach the field, parked in some far off lot. But when I finally got to the game and got to witness the final nail-biting goal, it was all worth it. It taught me to push myself outside of my comfort zone, and in all honestly blossomed my love for lacrosse.
