Read how Rachel Sandstrom reported these pieces for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution:
Everyday Heroes: Georgia student helps kids, teens with tutoring and community connections
Everyday Heroes: UGA student helps create exciting holiday shopping day for kids
500 Athens-area kids receive holiday shopping spree with UGA mentors
Before I began writing each article I read, “Word Choice When Reporting on Inequality: A Conversation with Authors Venise Wagner and and Sally Lehrman,” in the Storytelling Tips section of the Covering Poverty website. From this, I learned just how important word choice is especially when you are covering a sensitive topic like disparity. As journalists we should steer away from labeling people because it can be dehumanizing. In all three of my articles, I tried my best not to label any particular person in need. I focused my stories on the impact these organizations have on the UGA and Athens community.
When I began brainstorming who to profile for the Atlanta Journal Constitution’s special section, “Everyday Heroes,” I knew I wanted to feature students with a passion. Here’s a brief overview of my reporting process.
When Professor Lori Johnston recommended researching Kaimet Haile, executive director of Shop with a Bulldawg (SWAB), I jumped at the chance. I first looked at her LinkedIn page and noticed she was an accomplished student and heavily involved on campus and in the Athens community. I then browsed the SWAB website and gained a better picture of what exactly SWAB is. I found out it was an incredible organization completely run by students who are passionate about the children of Athens. That’s when I emailed Haile.
In addition to Haile, I wrote another story on the chair of the board of directors of Equal Education for Athens, Lana Smith. I found out about EEA through my roommate, Hannah Hughes, who is an elementary education major. I then found Smith on the EEA website and immediately emailed her.
I set up a phone call with both students to give them a bit more insight on what my assignment entailed. They both were enthusiastic about the opportunity to be featured in the AJC and agreed to the story.
First, I interviewed Haile with Shop With a Bulldawg at the University of Georgia’s Terry College of Business. We talked for about 30 minutes and she told me about how she originally got involved in SWAB, what SWAB meant to her, and how SWAB impacts both the University of Georgia community and the Athens community. After our initial interview we had a few follow up conversations over the phone in order to complete the article. In addition to Haile, I also talked to Donna Elder, the executive director of federal programs for the Clarke County School District. Elder gave Haile glowing reviews and boasted about Haile’s skillful ability to run SWAB. She also told me about how much she loves SWAB and the joy event day brings to the children. I was also given the opportunity to cover SWAB’s event day this year for the AJC. I talked to all kinds of people on event day from UGA mentors to children participating in the event and parent volunteers. This allowed me to gain multiple perspectives which enabled me to produce a well researched story.
I interviewed Smith, chair of the board of directors of Equal Education for Athens (EEA), outside the UGA Chapel on North Campus about a week after I interviewed Haile. We talked about how Smith originally got involved in EEA and how important the organization is to providing resource help to k-12 students in the Athens community. I also had a couple follow up conversations over the phone just like I did with Haile in order to complete the article. As well as Smith, I talked to Jaymie Bromfield, EEA’s nonprofit adviser. Bromfield talked Smith up and highlighted her passion for EEA. She also emphasized the organization’s ability to provide support to not just students but teachers and parents as well.
