Photo by Tori Gatling
Andrea Czobor is a recent graduate of The Woodlands High School and is proud to be majoring in broadcast journalism at The Frank W. & Sue Mayborn Journalism School in the fall. During her high school career, Andrea served as a lead staff writer for The Claymore yearbook and performed with theater and choir productions, combining those interests to form a passion for broadcast journalism. Named as president for the broadcast and film organization on campus, SkillsUSA, she led students to district and state finals, as well as earned 1st place for her broadcast production competition. While in class, Andrea’s responsibilities included writing, reporting, anchoring and producing the Highlander Television newscasts, as well as short films and news packages. Over the past two summers, she had devoted her time to interning at The Woodlands Online where she has written stories, blogs and produced videos for her Woodlands community.
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Eric Johnsen will be a senior at Highland Park High School in Dallas, where he is extensively involved with the broadcast and media programs. He enjoys reading, watching films, playing video games, writing and producing videos. While he does admire journalism and those who have committed their life to the profession, he does not wish to follow in their footsteps. Instead, he strives to one day be a respected filmmaker. Eric attended The Mayborn Conference and the high school workshop at the University of North Texas due to wild chance and enjoyed it.
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Ifeoluwa Obayan is a recent Mansfield Timberview High School graduate, where she was Editor-in-Chief of the newspaper. In addition to copyediting, she often writes everything from personal columns to hard news stories. She will be heading to college this fall and plans on studying biomedical engineering and neurobiology as well as incorporating journalism into her school career. She hopes to write for her college paper and gain more experience in web design and photography.
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Itohan Osagie, a recent graduate of Trinidad Garza Early College High School, will be a journalism student at the University of Texas at Austin this fall. Her passion for journalism started with a trivial editorial class assignment for a junior level English class and has evolved into a desire to participate in programs that support young journalists such as the Mayborn Multimedia High School Journalism Workshop. In her free time, Itohan enjoys dabbling in poetry and fiction writing, while also gathering ideas for her blog (a work in progress). In college, she hopes to work for one of UT Austin’s media outlets (e.g., The Daily Texas and KUT Radio 90.5). In addition to majoring in journalism, Itohan plans to minor in Spanish and acquire a certificate in creative writing.
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Izzie Ramirez is a McKinney Boyd High School senior and the Editor-in-Chief of her school paper, the Spur. She prides herself in being a sort of jack-of-all-trades when it comes to journalism. Primarily, she writes and takes photos, but enjoys designing spreads and creating videos. If she has any free time, which is pretty rare, she likes to read or run her unpopular blog. (Don’t worry, it’s getting there). Her goals in life are to watch all 48 seasons of “House Hunters International” and learn the six official languages of the United Nations. She dreams of working at The Washington Post, The New York Times, Real Simple or Marie Claire.
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Jasmine Smith is the senior editor of the Viking Scroll, the newspaper at Arlington Lamar High School. After graduating, she plans to attend Howard University with a major in political science. She hopes to pursue a career involving activism in the community through a power position in the government, using journalism as one of her outlets. Jasmine is an active poet and artist. She is a member of the National Honor Society and has participated in UIL Newswriting, Feature Writing and Prose & Poetry competitions. Jasmine assists with the yearbook and Blue Curtain, her school’s theater program. She has reached the rank of First Sergeant in the Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps and is very active in her community. She participates in several organizations including the Black Empowerment Movement, the Think Tank for Positive Change and the Community Activism Group at The Dock Bookshop in Fort Worth. In her spare time, she enjoys writing poetry, blogging, using Instagram, doing DIY projects, watching scary movies and dropping knowledge on those who she feels need it.
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Jazmin Rose is a recent graduate of Trinidad Garza Early College High School located in Dallas, Texas. Her passion for journalism emerged from a documentary project her career and college readiness teacher assigned. In order to follow that passion, Jazmin will be attending The University of North Texas in the fall for broadcast journalism with hopes of being a news producer. This opportunity has only strengthened her thirst for more knowledge on this subject.
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Joshlyn Thomas is a recent graduate of Kingwood Park High School. She has just one year of formal experience in journalism as a staff reporter for the KP Times newsmagazine during her senior year, but has always had a love for writing. The novice journalist will stay involved in student media to gain more experience. She will be studying print media journalism at University of Houston and will write as a staff reporter for the university’s student-run news organization, The Cougar. With all of this, she hopes to one day use her acquired skills to report for a music publication, writing features and reviews to narrate the stories of influential artists. While she is not spilling her guts in print, Joshlyn enjoys listening to records, eating small-batch ice cream and taking long walks with her toy poodle named Rex.
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Julian Esparza is a McKinney North High School senior, where he serves as a reporter, producer, anchor, director and editor for NTV. He has served on the broadcasting staff for three years and has been given the opportunity to interview hundreds of people, including witnesses to the JFK assassination, Bill and Gayle Newman. Julian has also worked with McKinney ISD in producing a talk show for the school district. He is a member of Blue Blazers, a student ambassador group that only accepts students with exemplary leadership skills. Julian plans on majoring in Journalism and aspires to work as a broadcast journalist.
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Kristen Schabel is a senior at Sunnyvale High School and has been writing for the school’s online newspaper, The Sentinel, for the past two years. As a senior, she will be taking on the role of multimedia editor for the staff. Kristen is involved in theater productions on campus and is a member of the campus debate and speech teams. On top of her journalism and speech skills, Kristen also has some experience in marketing as a Jared Rey Photography senior spokesmodel. In her free time Kristen teaches a first grade sunday school class and is active in her youth group. She also really loves “How I Met Your Mother.”
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Liam Gaughan is an incoming junior at McKinney North High School. Liam participates in both the school’s broadcast and newspaper programs, serving as a news writer, anchor, editor, director and reporter. Outside of school, Liam does freelance film reviews and articles. Liam actively pursues journalism, attending seminars such as the Summer Journalism Workshop at the University of Iowa and the JEANSPA Broadcast Competition in Washington D.C.
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Lola George is a 2015 graduate of Skyline High School in Dallas. Her many passions in high school allowed her to be a student athlete and ambassador, as she held the position of varsity cheer captain, participated in several student organizations and graduated in the top three percent of her class. Lola’s passion for journalism developed as an RTVF student at Skyline, where she gained experience in many types of media and became the editor of the school newspaper and published articles for DISD’s news website, The Hub. In her free time, Lola enjoys writing, social media, hanging out with friends, keeping up with sports teams and taking selfies. She aspires to work as a sideline reporter for Fox Sports or ESPN. Lola will continue her journalism studies at the University of North Texas in the fall, where she also will obtain a sports journalism certificate and minor in kinesiology.
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Samantha Rabino is a junior at Allen High School. She has been on the Lowery Freshman yearbook staff as the Co-Editor-in-Chief and is currently the junior managing editor of the yearbook. She primarily writes stories for the yearbook, but takes photos and designs spreads in InDesign when needed. Though undecided about what to major in or where to go to college, she knows she’d like to work somewhere that makes use of her creative drive. In her spare time, she enjoys drawing, playing the ukulele and watching cartoons. She can be found listening to Bruno Mars and the Rent soundtrack.
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Sara Schleede is a junior at Allen High School. She is junior managing editor of her school’s newsmagazine. In the 2014-2015 academic year, as a first year staffer, she interviewed the mayor of Allen and wrote three cover stories. Besides journalism, Schleede is involved in the band program and volunteers weekly at her church while maintaining a spot in the top five percent of her class. In her spare time, she enjoys reading, painting and discussing Myers Briggs typology. Schleede intends to major in journalism and minor in English before going on to work as a journalist with a focus on print media.
Photo by Izzie Ramirez
Tori Gatling is 17 years old and will be entering her senior year at Kingwood Park High School in the fall. Tori has been involved in high school journalism since her freshman year and has been a part of the yearbook staff since her sophomore year. In her junior year, she was given the position of Editor-in-Chief. Alongside being involved in journalism, Tori is a member of different honor societies including the National Honor Society, the Math Honor Society and the French National Honor Society. Tori is also a member of the state champion varsity golf team. Tori hopes to attend a college where she can play golf and work with photography, writing and design elements.
The Great Divide 