Commitment to Diversity

I explain the marshmallow and spaghetti tower building activity I planned alongside the DEI editor at a staff bonding lunch Feb. 6.

My approach to covering diverse stories is rooted in a deep commitment to amplifying underrepresented voices and broadening our collective perspective. I believe journalism can’t fulfill its purpose without reflecting the full range of experiences within a community. As a reporter and leader, I’ve aimed to ensure that every story I tell — and every source I include — contributes to that goal.

On The Standard

Below are a select few DEI-related stories I've published during my time on The Standard. Click on each one to read a reflection and view the story.

Newsreel

To gain a larger picture of my work with Newsreel, visit the Law, Ethics and News Literacy and Reporting and Writing sections. In short, Newsreel is an interactive news app startup where I’ve interned for over a year. I write twice-weekly stories for the app, compile timelines and contribute to its social media. My DEI reporting naturally extends into this role, especially given the ongoing developments in the U.S. 

In both of the examples below, I recognized their significance and made an effort to go beyond the basics by adding legal context, relevant statistics and visuals. This approach helped clarify why the Supreme Court case and condemnation of the deportation plan matter and aimed to present the issues in a way that was informative, respectful and accessible to a wide audience. Click on each to view a screen recording of me navigating through the story.

For years, our Commitment to Diversity statement (see below) captured our aspirations, yet without someone in a role dedicated to DEI, many initiatives remained unfulfilled. With the 2024-25 Editorial Board, we introduced the role of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Editor — a change that has shifted DEI from a sidelined idea to a core pillar of our work. 

This dedicated position has allowed us to embed diversity into every layer of our process, spurring regular diversity reporting, gathering feedback from staff and community members alike and ensuring that our internal culture evolves alongside our content. By integrating these practices into our operations, our commitment to diversity has become both tangible and sustainable.

When our publication introduced the DEI Editor role, it was met with criticism from several members of the school community — some questioned its purpose and necessity, which made it even more important to ensure the editor felt valued. While attending the Medill-Northwestern Journalism Institute, I asked a guest speaker from Apple News who spoke to us about diversity how to best support someone in that position. Her advice was simple: to make sure they know I see and support them, even if others might not. 

I’ve done my best to carry that into every interaction — from consistently engaging and responding in the DEI chat when others don't to making space for their ideas in meetings. My philosophy is that DEI work should never be an afterthought; it’s vital to the growth and relevance of our publication. Supporting this editor has meant showing respect, offering encouragement and ensuring they know their work matters — because it truly has moved our publication forward.

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion are essential in journalism because they ensure that every story reflects a wide range of perspectives and experiences. By actively seeking out diverse voices, we challenge inherent biases and provide a more complete, nuanced view of the world. The Standard's Commitment to Diversity statement, which the managing editor team is currently in the process of updating alongside the DEI Editor, can be found on our website here. The in-progress version can be found here. A side-by-side comparison is below.

Recognizing that a wide range of perspectives is essential to robust journalism, this year The Standard implemented an automated source tracking system to enhance our commitment to source diversity. Reporters now complete a brief form after publishing their work — whether in print, online or on social media — listing all the sources they used. 

This data automatically updates a central spreadsheet that tracks how often each source is used. Not only does this system streamline our workflow, but it also serves as a critical tool for ensuring we don't over-rely on a narrow set of voices. By making it easier to monitor and diversify our sources, we’re actively fostering more inclusive and representative reporting across all our platforms.

Once a source has been interviewed three times, they are added to our Rainbow List. After inclusion, reporters are generally restricted from interviewing that source again unless absolutely necessary, with any exceptions clearly noted below. This initiative is central to our commitment to enhancing source diversity by preventing any single perspective from dominating our coverage, while actively encouraging the inclusion of underrepresented voices. 

I instructed the DEI Editor to send Rainbow List updates to our full Editorial Board group chat rather than just the DEI chat to ensure everyone was on the same page. This way, section editors can be on the lookout for any Rainbow Listed sources before the piece gets submitted to the DEIC: Online or me, which would set back the editing process.

This year, we introduced the concept of a source intake form that’s sent to every interviewee. During their first time filling out the form, they provide details about their background and identity markers (section 2), as well as letting us know if they felt well-represented in our coverage. With each subsequent interview, the form only asks if they feel well-represented in our coverage (section 3). This approach not only helps us gather crucial demographic insights but also serves as a feedback tool to ensure our reporting authentically reflects our community's diversity.

Earlier this year, I proposed creating a form to send to the entire High School community to identify students' interests and areas of expertise. The goal is to broaden our pool of possible interviewees for each topic, ensuring fresh perspectives and avoiding repetition of the same individuals. This initiative will help us better represent the full breadth of our community in our coverage, and we are currently in the process of developing the form.

This year, we have also had the DEI Editor start "blue-ing" story ideas that relate to any diversity, equality or social justice topics. This enables our publication to run smoother, as reporters have someone to consult throughout the process of writing their piece. It also ensures these topics are covered thoughtfully and thoroughly. By offering targeted feedback from the get-go, we help our staff develop more nuanced and well-researched pieces. Below are some examples. 

Below are examples where the DEI Editor provided feedback on “blue-d” pieces, as well as instances where members of the managing team sought their guidance — clearly showcasing the positive impact this process has had on our work. I’ve learned that good leadership isn’t just about giving support, but also about relying on others’ expertise to strengthen the team as a whole.

Our publication has made significant strides in shifting how we represent stories through our rhetoric. Instead of adhering to the notion of presenting “both sides” of issues, we now focus on exploring the complexity and nuance of “all sides.” Additionally, part of the DEI Editor’s responsibilities includes collecting and consulting diversity-focused style guides from associations such as the NABJ and the NLGJA whenever the AP Stylebook falls short on specifics regarding the language of covering issues for specific groups — such as the NLGJA’s guidance on covering transgender individuals.

An example of this coming into play is when two editors recently wrote a story about menstrual health and the stigma surrounding periods within our school community. Read the text exchange below to learn more.

Each quarter, the DEI Editor compiles a comprehensive diversity report to track our progress and identify areas for improvement. These reports assess everything from source representation and content balance to staff diversity. By reviewing this data, our team can celebrate successes, address any imbalances and adjust our strategies to ensure that our coverage authentically reflects the varied perspectives of our community. Each report also features a reflection on the changes since the last report. 

We publish these reports on our website to foster transparency, which reinforces our ongoing commitment to diversity and accountability. Click on each of the two reports we have published so far this year to see them on our website. In the spirit of continuous improvement, we've refined our reports from the first to the second edition to create a more comprehensive and overarching analysis.

After publishing each report, the managing team gives the DEI Editor a section of class to lead a breakdown of the results so that the entire Editorial Board is on the same page. Below is a picture from our rundown of the Quarter 2 diversity report Jan. 24. 

In December 2024, we invited Elaine He — Bloomberg Opinion's data visualization editor and former graphics editor at The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times — to speak to our staff. During her visit, we showed her our diversity reports, and below is the insightful feedback she provided. In our upcoming report for Quarter 3, we will take this into account.

To ensure we're always aware of our progress, we've developed a cumulative diversity visuals document that offers a real-time snapshot of our diversity breakdowns throughout the semester. This enables us to quickly identify areas that need more focus — for example, when we had only interviewed a handful of Grade 9 students vs. 20+ Grade 12 students at the beginning of the year — and adapt our strategies to consistently amplify a wide range of voices in our reporting.

To underscore our commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion, I added a dedicated DEI tab during my redesign of The Standard's website. This new page details our processes and initiatives, clearly communicating that these values are at the heart of our publication to our readers. Click on the image below to view the page.

While several of our DEI efforts are focused externally, I also recognize that strengthening our internal practices is just as important. To address this, we launched our first-ever staff audit by distributing a comprehensive survey to all team members. 

This audit evaluates our team’s demographic composition and opinions on our DEI processes, providing us with critical insights into our internal diversity. Moving forward, we plan to conduct this audit every semester to continuously monitor our progress and ensure that our diversity and inclusivity initiatives have a lasting impact. 

Staff bonding is a cornerstone of our newsroom's success, as it ensures everyone feels both included and valued. We prioritize activities that foster genuine connections among our team, from class lunches to fun activities. These experiences not only elevate our collective morale but also drive collaboration across all grades and positions of our publication. Below are a few of our staff bonding events from this year. 

To gain a more in-depth look into our staff bonding, check out the Team Building section in the Editing, Leadership and Team Building section.

To ensure we celebrate our community's rich diversity thoughtfully, the DEI Editor created a detailed document that outlines the dates of each heritage and awareness month. This resource prompts us to plan coverage of these important observances. 

In terms of integrating it naturally into our coverage, we've significantly broadened our number of DEI-related stories this year, actively amplifying the diverse voices that shape our school community. By highlighting underrepresented groups through a variety of in-depth profiles and feature pieces, we’re showcasing the perspectives that often go unnoticed. Check out a few of these stories that were published online below.

In our ongoing commitment to diversity, we decided to create a hybrid special edition in collaboration with the World Languages department. We began planning meetings at the end of last school year, which primarily consisted of brainstorming, and we're now on track to publish the edition in June. This project not only enriches our content by incorporating multiple cultural perspectives but also fosters cross-departmental collaboration, ensuring that a broader range of voices is celebrated. Below is our first email to the department head. 

After our first meeting, we decided that a dedicated special edition to articles in the four ASL-offered languages — Spanish, French, Chinese and Arabic — would be more logistically feasible than trying to incorporate language articles into each of our regular issues. This approach simplifies coordination and allows us to spotlight diverse language perspectives more effectively. 

The document below is the department’s live working resource for tracking the progress of the special edition, which they shared with us. It provides regular updates on story development, deadlines and key decisions, ensuring that everyone stays on the same page as we move forward.

Throughout the year, I’ve maintained regular contact with the department head, ensuring all her questions are promptly addressed.

By the time we publish this special edition, it will mark a significant milestone for The Standard, as it will be our very first time publishing stories in a different language.

As a publication, we actively encourage members of our school community to submit letters to the editor and guest pieces, creating space for a wide range of voices and perspectives beyond our staff. This openness to outside contributions has helped us foster diversity of opinion and reflect the full spectrum of thought within our student body. 

This year, we've had more submissions than ever before, with five guest pieces and one letter to the editor so far. In 2023-24, we had none, and in 2022-23, we had one. I attribute this growth to our focus on fostering an open, welcoming platform for student voices, where diverse opinions are clearly valued and encouraged. Additionally, outreach efforts like our school-wide emails inviting contributions for our Election Special Edition helped signal that we’re eager to include a range of perspectives in our publication.

Ahead of selecting the 2025-26 Editorial Board, we introduced a new initiative by having all senior editors undergo mandatory anti-bias training. This session was designed to raise awareness of unconscious biases, foster equitable decision-making and ensure that our leadership choices reflect our commitment to diversity and inclusion.

View the slideshow below to see the key insights and takeaways from the training.

Intentional recruiting from across the school is essential to ensure our newsroom reflects the diversity of perspectives, backgrounds and experiences within our student body, helping to build a publication that truly serves and engages the entire school community.

The first step to this was ensuring that students who were unable to enroll in a journalism class still had the opportunity to contribute to our publication — an option that hadn't existed before this year. With our staff growing dramatically from around 30 members in 2021–22 to nearly 90 in 2024–25, we recognized the need for a more accessible entry point now that all classes are at maximum capacity every semester. To address this, the EIC: Print and I co-founded The Standard Club, a space where we teach journalism fundamentals once a week and provide a pathway for club members to contribute to the publication. 

You can also learn about The Standard Club in the Editing, Leadership and Team Building section.

I've also volunteered at the publications table at ASL's annual course planning events for Grade 9 and 10 students' parents every year. Below are pictures from one of this year's events specific to Grade 10 parents.

Moreover, as the Co-President of ASL’s Student Ambassador program, I’ve had the privilege of representing the school on various panels at Orientation and Open Houses over the years. I'm often asked about or present on my extracurricular involvements, to which I always highlight my role on The Standard, which has been the most meaningful part of my high school experience. I've found that this is a great way to get students excited about the publication before even joining the school.

Learn more about our recruitment efforts in the Marketing and Audience Engagement section. 

On March 12, we learned that we were named one of five finalists for the 2025 NSPA Innovation Pacemaker — an accomplishment that validates our efforts to foster a more inclusive, equitable environment for both our staff and our audience. Below is the slideshow from our submission.

When putting together our entry for the Pacemaker, I helped the DEI Editor edit and finalize our submission, as seen in the screenshots below.

Last month, we also found out we were shortlisted in the Student Publication Association's National Awards for Best Initiative or Project in recognition of our DEI work. What makes this especially meaningful is that the association is almost entirely made up of university publications from across the U.K. like Roar News from King’s College London and the University of Cambridge’s Language Collective. Being considered alongside such established student outlets is both an honor and a testament to the impact of our efforts.