In every interview, I’ve found precious surprises. Beyond the surface, deeper than what can be taken at first glance, we each carry beliefs that shape our stories. Press pass and reporter’s notebook in hand, I search for these hidden sources of wisdom through conversation, whether with student-athletes, school librarians or local restaurant waiters.

Seeing a new side to interviewees impels me to amplify their voices. Journalists build two-way streets — in sharing individual stories, we celebrate the value of unique perspectives while bringing wisdom to our community.

These two-way streets don’t just exist in isolation. They interact and intersect at every step from pitch to publish.

“Our Immigrant Stories,” an investigative package we developed from Jan. to Dec. 2023, encapsulates this synergy. After discussing ideas from grind culture to food waste, our staff chose immigration as our focus topic because of its particular relevance to our school and local community. From there, 19 of us dove into interviewing, photographing, videotaping and designing …

The sheer scale of the project posed a significant challenge. To reach the diversity of sourcing we aimed for and cover ground from historical events to student perspectives, we tackled multiple moving parts simultaneously. Despite planning to publish by June, with each interview, we realized the project was a much larger undertaking. We’d only seen the tip of the iceberg.

As Harker Aquila Co-Editor-in-Chief this year, I led our team of reporters by organizing and compiling “Our Immigrant Stories.” Amidst the flurry of Slack pings, Zoom calls and impromptu meetings in Manzanita 70, there were some moments where I wondered whether we would truly be able to bring the project to fruition.

Yet there were far more moments where I was reaffirmed why “Our Immigrant Stories” mattered. When we presented our initial progress at the JEA/NSPA Spring Convention and asked who could relate to the project, nearly every hand in the room of 200+ student journalists went up. Listening to interview recordings, I gained a deeper understanding of community members I thought I knew well. During team meetings, I saw how many other reporters shared the same enthusiasm. “Our Immigrant Stories” is expansive and complex, but that is also what gives the project deeper meaning. 

“Our Immigrant Stories” is about more than just celebrating individual stories. To me, the project exemplifies the importance of journalism: Journalists write stories that create springboards for communities to write their own. 

Every interview, article and photo affirms the value of learning about one another. Dear reader, I encourage you to seek out hidden sources of wisdom and pave the two-way streets that allow a community to thrive.