If a picture is worth a thousand words, then multimedia is just as powerful as writing. They go best together. Photography was my entrance into the journalism industry, and while I've expanded beyond, I always find my way back to a camera now and then. 

Every new skill takes a first step. My first step into broadcast was an interview with the Guinness Book World Record holder’s oldest female radio show host, Mary McCoy. I’d received her contact from Houston Chronicle reporter Sondra Hernandez and decided to take this chance and click record. I performed the best I could with my two weeks of videography cramming. The video is spread across two interviews, one at her home and one at her station. The video may be shaking, but it’s underneath that matters. This video was about taking a step in a new direction, going outside my comfort and reporting. That's what journalism takes.

Writing for a local source calls for localization, and more importantly, initiative. What better way to localize the presidential election than in-person reporting on then vice president just an hour away in Houston? I didn't even take my advisor seriously when he asked if I wanted to report on the Kamala Harris rally at NRG stadium, but of course I agreed. He was serious though and two weeks later I found myself with a press pass around my neck, camera in hand and surrounded by a 30,000 person audience. I placed a recorder  at my feet for the article I would write later and photographed shoulder-to-shoulder with CNN and CBS reporters. I published the article paired with a gallery later that week.'

As the nation mourned Charlie Kirk following his assassination, Montgomery County officials hosted a local memorial service on the fairgrounds. I jumped to cover the event and, for the first time independently, requested press access. Event hosts never replied, through multiple request. I bit the bullet and showed up anyways. Come to find out, my name was on their list -- and the only photojournalist at that. I came out of the event with over a thousand photos and a lesson: to take initiative and stand my ground as a reporter

Recognition: Best of SNO (2); 2025 ILPC First place online IAA news photo & Top in Texas; 2025 TAJE Superior (2), online BITS & Excellent News photo, Fall Fiesta & Best in Texas online package; 2024 ATPI First place “election time” social media contest

This was the first interview I did after spending the last 5 weeks writing my opioid epidemic column series. I felt nervous and rusty. Sophomore Santiago Enriquez unraveled his life with guitar in the little office I usually interviewed students. That interview reminded me why I do journalism; people are what make life interesting. As we spoke, Enriquez mentioned he was looking for platforms to share his music so I invited him, and anyone else on the guitar club, to play on-air for our radio station. It was a chance for readers to hear Enriquez art, while also being a platform for my community. (NEED TO UPLOAD)