News Writing | Isabelle

News Reporting

These are my news articles from sophomore and junior year so far. Within sophomore year, I spent the first semester working on campus beats; the second semester with general news beats. Junior year, I entirely wrote general news beats.

Redwood LIFE redesign calls for a compromise between residential and economic growth

This was a unique story of community voices opposing the "big developers" but instead of complete opposition there was an openess that was different from most stories.

Greenwashing and wish-cycling: Mislabeled products undermine sustainability goals

This was another sustainability article I wrote on a topic that was very prevalent to Carlmont students and the general community.

Water guns and restrictions: ‘Senior Assassin’ sparks debate off school grounds

I wrote this topical news piece with two other staff writers on a restriction on "Senior Assassin" that would have violated our Ed Code. As journalists, it was gratifying to see tangible change we were able to make.

Powering the world: Sustainability generates economic growth

This article was written on a topic that I was noticing in my community, specifically San Mateo County. It seems like while there are definite ways we can help fight the climate crisis, but it is also important to acknowledges the strides that have been made.

Toxic masculinity: Poisoning the minds of generations

This article was written with my peer Valerie and something that we had been talking about for some time now. Especially in a digitized world, communication and connection seems more difficult.

Corporations and individuals unwrap holiday waste

This was my first article of the year that wasn't related to politics (yet I still managed to make a connect to public policy), but another issue I'm passionate about: sustainability. I talked to a array of people and I'm very happy with how it turned out.

Election reflections: media interest post-election shifts towards community engagement

For our national journalism convention, it was coincidentally held in Philadelphia, the talk of the election, a day after the election. Even more lucky, our hotel room was only a few minutes away from the town hall, where I attended and interviewed many political protests. This truly was a transformative experience.

Local elections: SUHSD board election holds power to drive change

I was really interesting in the national election at this time, but I soon realized that local elections had equal if not more impact on our lives. I was lucky enough to talk with all three candidates for our local school board election.

Gov. Gavin Newsom chops college legacy admissions with new bill

This was another timely new article about another bill, but this time I teamed up with my good friend Kiana to write it. I also talked to a Pulitzer prize winning journalist and I learned a lot from that encounter.

California law targets AI-generated election misinformation

This was a timely new article that I wrote about a new bill. This highlighted the intersection between technology and policy, which I find fascinating.

Polarization: Upcoming elections highlight political division

During this historical election year, I really noticed the growing animosity between political factions, and I wanted to delve deeper into this. After I wrote this article, I began noticing it even more.

Middle ground: Reconciling free speech and university response to pro-Palestinian protests

My friend, Elaine approached me about writing this article, and I thought this provided an interesting perspective .This was a multimedia piece that required many hours of researching, interviewing, and putting together. The scope of the article was very in-depth so it required that amount.

California climate patterns shape superbloom display

For once, I talked about a local news story that was more lighthearted and I felt it was an uplifting story. I personally learned a lot from the interviews.

Global warming threatens the ‘Doomsday Glacier’

I was very happy I talked to the person who coined the term of the "Doomsday Glacier." I came out of writing this article with a more hopeful outlook on the climate crisis which inspired a future article.

Murdering the true crime narrative

This was my feature article in which I focused more on the impacts of issues on public policy. Even though this was published later, this affected the type of journalism I wanted to write.

Misinformation spreads through deepfakes of Taylor Swift

I had a small timeframe to write this article, but it came out the way I wanted to. I talked to many experts to get a holistic overview.

Mickey Mouse escapes the trap of extended copyright laws

This was my first article writing in a new section of news. This was also the first time of many my friend Marlena Reinshagen drew me an adorable feature photo.

Staff Profile: Alyssa Lu ‘catalyzes’ interest in chemistry

I wanted to show how teachers ended up teaching at Carlmont in interesting twists of fate, so I talked to a chemistry teacher about this.

I wrote this article with Emma Fry. We wanted to go beyond just reporting the facts of food drive to explore as to why Carlmont was holding one.

Carlmont’s annual food drive embraces season of giving

This was the first article I've ever written. Other friends and myself were confused on how our school's lunch program worked, so I did some research and wrote this article.

Isabelle's Journalism Portfolio