Sidney Brooks
Student Journalist and Photographer
Reporting and Writing
As a student in jornmalism we write and report on everything that we cover in the yearbook from sports to musicals and academic activities. Writing is a necessity when we report on a story. Every year, my journalism class takes a group to the state fair to participate in the Scholastic Press Corps competition. Where we have 8 hours to put together a 4-page newsletter. I would normally be the lead photogher druing this competitions, but I also enjoy going out and interviewing the subjects in my photos. I love getting to know their story and the overall conversation that I have with them. This is not the only time I interview people; I do it all the time for the yearbook.
This photo is from the 2024 Scholastic Press Corps competition. I am interviewing the woman at the 4-H booth at that state fair.
Seniors on JV Reporting
At the beginning of the school year, there was an issue involving high school sports policies. In the Inman High School athletic handbook, it states that no high school senior would be allowed to play on JV teams. This was an issue because the coaches and the school board were not keeping this policy consistent year to year. This year, a athleate on volleyball was not allowed to participate and was asked to be a manager instead. As an athlete myself, I thought this was incredibly unfair, so I took it upon myself to report on the situation in hopes of changing the policy. A friend and I spent a week researching how many schools in our league had this policy, how many past seniors have played on the JV team, etc. We also interviewed coaches, our athletic director, and people in our community to find out varying opinions on the issue. In the end, we presented our report to the Inman Board of Education and ended up getting the unfair policy removed from the handbook. This was the first time I realized how much of a difference I could make by using the skills I learned in journalism to fight injustices around me.
