people will always come first in my coverage. It's my "why." My duty is to unite humans to understand one another, uncovered through genuine human connection without creating harm.

2026 TAJE Excellent, online BITS

Every decision in this coverage felt like an ethical puzzle. Alumna Reese Manchaca died in the Hill County floods, and I had a duty to report. To truly put a face to those numbers in the headlines. 

All the facts were accurate, but through my digging, I ended up reporting breaking information from that night to the Manchacas. In my reporting, we highlighted ways the community rallied to Reese’s cause, but some in the administration felt it was cold, sterile reporting. We published the principal's letter reminding the community to honor her memory. 

I could handle that letter, but I sank when Reese’s family called the article too graphic. I revisited the article and reworded some of the details that could have come off as heartless, which was never my intention, but the story remained published. 

The situation ate at me; where I hoped to rally people in Reese’s honor, I ended up hurting the family. As a journalist, I executed well, but as a person I felt horrible. It was a slap in the face of reality and a reminder of the impact journalists hold and that I am a human before I am a reporter.

Under deadlines and workloads, I understand it can be easy to loosen ethics. I made this quick lesson to tighten that screw back up. 

Multiple editor-in-chiefs approached me during our November leadership council meeting complaining about misused photoshop tools and questionable crops. I intended to handle those instances one-on-one, but broke when I found out multiple staffers attempted to make up quotes before editors caught them.

Rather than reiterating what we’d previously taught, I made an interactive presentation on journalism ethics to visualize the importance of the core journalism principles.

Every monthly editor meeting involves policy discussion at least once. For any policy to enter effect there must be a majority vote with at least half of the editor staff present. Based on the agreed policy terms, I draft the policy updates the next day which are viewable on our online news site.

In response to the Texas Legislature banning DEI and restricting teachers from use of non-birth-given names, we had to agree on how we would handle students who use another name in the yearbook. By meetings end, we voted 11-0 on an agreed policy to allow use of names separate from birth, but only as long as the name is verified with the students. 

We required name verification to prevent placing students whose family disapproved of their chosen name at risk.

Since I’ve started writing, I’ve written over three obituaries in memory of students and staff. With those experiences I’ve nurtured my reporters to do the same. Two separate students encountered interviews involving suicide, so I took the chance to pass my knowledge. I always say, the hardest stories have the most meaningful messages.

Montgomery County was one of the most heavily impacted counties in Texas by the opioid crisis. Drug distributors overflowed offices with prescription opioids for doctors to dump onto their patients. Montgomery County sat at third highest county in opioid overdose deaths. 

In my personal column series on the opioid epidemic, I hit this topic hard. In my research, I contacted Community Impact reporter Wayne Gardner for data on the Montgomery County opioid crisis, finding that 81.2 opioid-based prescriptions were provided per every 100 people in 2010. As a journalist, I have a duty to investigate and spotlight community dangers, especially when lives are put on the line. 

Generative AI is an innovative tool that journalists must adapt with. On my staff, I encourage ethical use through approved assistance models we've made such as interview questions, mock UIL competition prompts, email writing advice and more. 

In 2025, I helped teach an AI-Journalism course at the ILPC. But AI-use should always be debated. Any form of AI in pieces I consider creative or “final products” is unethical. My editors, adviser and I have debated what uses are ethical dozens of times, but regardless, AI is a tool that journalists must accept and adapt to in the changing environment.

For JEA's Press Under Pressure Week, I took the chance to leave a newsroom tradition before I graduated. On the ninth annual Student Press Freedom Day, I asked every editor to speak on the significance of journalism and press rights for an Instagram post. I purposefully recorded a studio video to learn more about Adobe Premiere Pro. I recorded, edited and subtitled the video within a day. I spoke with my adviser and hope to turn these short videos into a yearly tradition to raise awareness for press rights.