One Story, Many Voices: How a College Journalist’s Take on Gun Violence Captivated Multiple Publications
When I was a teenager growing up in North Philadelphia, I saw many jarring things. I was exposed to things children should never be exposed to, and it impacted how I navigated my life.
I experienced a lot of gun violence within my community, and that wasn’t the only kind of violence. Urban, drug, and gang violence are all things I’m familiar with because of the place I call home. It was hard, but it became normal. Every year a peer of mine would lose their life to gun violence, and most of the time they were either on their way to or from school when it happened. It made traveling to school more difficult than it should have been, and oftentimes, I was alone.
As much as I love Philly, the things I saw growing up made me passionate about change. I found myself getting involved in journalistic opportunities in my late High School years, and that’s when I partnered with PBS Newshour Student Reporting Labs. I’ve been an ongoing freelance journalist for them for a few years now, and I’ve helped support a handful of different projects with them. Last year, I was a co-producer and journalist for a hard-hitting gun violence documentary that PBS Newshour put together, and it opened more doors than I thought possible.
Being a part of the documentary, “Run, Hide, Fight: Growing Up Under The Gun,” was a fruitful experience that allowed me to talk about the things going on within my community. It was cathartic getting to work alongside other youth producers and journalists who care about topics similar to mine. I was able to interview a trauma surgeon at Temple University who researches the ongoings of gun violence and its impacts, and it made me feel more hopeful for the future, especially when people are talking about this all over the U.S.!
Alongside the production of the gun doc, I wrote an op-ed about my experiences growing up in Philly and PBS Newshour pitched it to several publications. I was lucky enough to be published by Chalkbeat, Teen Vogue, and The Philadelphia Inquirer! This was a dream come true, especially as a student journalist trying to get his name out there. It was an incredible honor to be published by such reputable publications, and I was even more stoked to find out I was in the print edition of The Philadelphia Inquirer!
You should have seen how frantically I was looking for a newsstand that day. As a 21-year-old in 2024, I don’t regularly look for newspaper stands. But I just knew I couldn’t miss out on getting a printed version of my article. I quickly googled nearby places that had newsstands and was lucky that the nearby Wawa seemed to have one. Once I got there, I was shaking beyond belief. I couldn’t even flip through the newspaper, my hands couldn’t stay still enough. Before even seeing my article yet, I went ahead and bought a few copies and went outside to find a quiet place to relax my nerves. I clutched onto the newspapers tightly, breathing in and out slowly as I approached a nearby bench. I sit, take a deep breath, and finally open the newspaper. After some flipping, there it was. I got to finally see my face and my article printed in those splotchy inky letters, it made my heart grow three times its size. I couldn’t believe this was my article, in the newspaper, like a real-life journalist! It was amazing, and I was in a blissful state of excitement and shock for the rest of the day.
Because of this opportunity, I was able to turn less ideal circumstances into a call to action for change, and I can’t wait to continue this kind of work after I graduate. Now the only question is, when can I start calling myself a journalist?
