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2025 Journalist of the Year Portfolio
Web & Social Media
When it comes to journalism, the web and social media are where I thrive. As the Social Media Editor, I have gained extensive experience in making sure that content across the platforms are accessible and easy to understand. I manage several school accounts, including The Clypian, South Salem Girls Flag Football, and Saxon Yearbook.
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What I love most about social media is the freedom it provides in terms of posting content and the accessibility of the platform. It allows me to showcase the school community in real-time, highlighting a wide range of events, sports, clubs, and people. Below are examples of some of the content I’ve created for The Clypian Instagram account, giving a glimpse into the diverse aspects of our school life.
Instagram Posts
Color Wars
One of the most significant events for South Salem students is the Color Clash Assembly held at the end of the year. Each grade level competes against one another in various games, making for an entertaining and spirited assembly. Highlighting this event is a yearly must for The Clypian Instagram, where we'll share a reel or a post filled with photos showcasing our students.
Day In The Life of a South Salem Teacher
The purpose of the Day in the Life was for students to see a glimpse into the daily routines of their favorite teachers. By showcasing the day to day lives of staff members, we hoped students would be more engaged with their teachers while fostering a greater sense of community within our school.
Sports Recap
Sports recaps are designed to showcase the achievements of South Salem's sports teams, whether it's celebrating a significant victory like the baseball team's series win against Sprague HS or highlighting the first-ever girls flag football game in Oregon, which South Salem not only participated in but also won. Additionally, they aim to promote upcoming events, such as the volleyball playoff game featured in the top picture encouraging students to attend and show their support.
School Spirit
Homecoming week is another significant event for South Salem High, but in recent years, especially since returning from COVID, it has seen a decline in excitement and participation. One of my goals with The Clypian Instagram has been to create content that promotes and boosts student involvement at events, especially homecoming week. To achieve this, we post the spirit week themes several days advance, ensuring students are aware and encouraged to participate. Additionally, we can enhance engagement by featuring students dressing up through reels.
Music Department
South Salem's music department is full of excellence and achievements, with multiple state titles and experiences. Although I strive to attend as many concerts as possible, it can be quite challenging so when neither I or a team member can't make it, I often reach out to the program to see if they have any content from their performance that we can share. The left picture showcases South Salem Choir winning 3rd place at state, and while none of the members of the The Clypian could attend, I connected with choir members to ensure we could celebrate this achievement. The top left picture is a carousel of various videos I captured on my iPhone 14 Pro at the Winter at South concert, which featured all of the advanced music groups. Given South's extensive music programs, understanding your audience and showcasing them on Instagram is essential.
On the left, you'll find our most popular Instagram reel, featuring the production of The Sound of Music by South Salem's choir, orchestra, and drama department. With 56,000 views and 2,000 likes, it quickly became a hit, even catching the attention of the official Sound of Music Instagram account. It was incredibly rewarding to see one of our videos reach a larger audience, especially as it highlighted the remarkable talent of our students at South.
Instagram Reels
Highlighting Different Groups
Highlighting students in their daily lives can take many forms, but the most important aspect is consistently showing up and creating content that features them. When students or their friends are included, they are more likely to share or repost, which can lead to increased views and engagement.
On the left, there is a reel with clips from the girls' flag football game against Sprague HS, which has earn 5k views and showcases engaging moments from the game such as touchdowns and flag pulls by the South girls. In the middle, a 10k view reel captures the unified assembly, various aspects from the cheerleaders to the game's tip-off. Lastly, on the right is a video with 6k views that shows all of the groups and participants from the 2023 Halloween doors event, which provided safe trick-or-treating experience for the community.
Trends
Trendy videos are so fun to create and experiment with. Whether it's capturing moments around school such as an ABC video or showcasing the student section at a football game, using trending sounds or Instagram templates such as the "Chicago" can help you connect with a wider audience.
Our most popular reel this school year, displayed to the left, features a sound that other high schools have used to highlight their student section. This reel has reached 17k views and approximately 600 likes.
End of Year Recap
Two of my favorite reels to create are the "the end of the calendar year" and "end of the school year" posts. My goal is to highlight as many students and events as possible. These recaps are not only enjoyable to make but also entertaining to watch as they encompass our school year to that point.
Both of our end-of-year recaps from the 2023-24 school year have 11k views. The video on the left is a full recap of the entire year, featuring a variety of clips, while the one on right focuses solely on the 2023 portion of the school year and was posted on New Year's Eve. Both captivated our Instagram audience.
Instagram Stories
We use Instagram Stories quite differently than we do Instagram posts or reels. Stories highlight events like athletes committing to play at the collegiate level or time-sensitive information, such as a football game being delayed due to weather or the distribution of the latest Clypian physical issue. While these events are valuable to students, it's important to note that Instagram Stories disappear after 24. Often, we utilize Stories to share sports graphics to encourage student attendance or to announce two-hour delays and school cancellations.
Instagram Story Highlights
Instagram Story highlights are an excellent way to keep the information shared in stories accessible to students and followers, allowing them to view it anytime. These highlights are organized by each sports or music department, as well as categories for school wide information.
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