About Me
Before I took a journalism class, I would read news on Apple News and other online sources. Since having a leadership role in two journalism programs at separate high schools, I now check a variety of sources, digest information, and am much better able to filter through biased information in search of the truth. I believe Journalism is extremely important as it tells everyone's stories and gives a voice to those who have none.
My name is Abigail Norejko, I am eighteen years old and a senior at Heritage High School. Throughout my time at Heritage, I have played volleyball, joined the Quill and Scroll Society, and assumed two editor positions on my school's yearbook staff. In my freshman year of high school, I joined the yearbook staff out of a pure accident, and it ended up being one of the most pivotal things I did. This school year I have joined Broadcast Journalism, a Career & Technical Education (or CTE) class, at Englewood High School, which has become my favorite class and aided my education to better prepare me for the field of journalism in the coming years. My hobbies include skiing, reading, and watching movies.
For the last three years, yearbook and now my class at Englewood High School have allowed me the opportunity to meet students from all types of backgrounds, each with a unique story to tell. I've also had the opportunity to speak to important figures like Congressman Jason Crow and be able to attend conferences for journalism. Having the knowledge to ensure that everyone's stories get told is important to me, and I have come to really enjoy it.
Honors and Awards
Colorado Student Media Association: First Place 3A/4A Video Media
Second Place Online News. Second Place PSA Commercial.
First Place Special Computer Effects.
Quill and Scroll Member for International Honorary Society for High School Journalists, Inducted Spring 2022.
Honorable Mention In-depth special report.
First place for Yearbook Layout Theme, from the Continental League Media Contest.
Click above for full story
News Packages for Sports
Lede: The Englewood High School football team takes great strides in preparation for this year's season.
Long practices on the field and days worth of hard work in the weight room pave the path for the EHS Football team this year as they are already showing great confidence. “I think we've been working hard all summer and we're continuing to get better all the time, and I think we're doing pretty good. There's always room for improvement of course, but I feel like we have a good kind of steady motion of progress,” said quarterback Carson Campbell (10).
Campbell has been playing football since he was five years old, “My dad played for Idaho in college and he's been a high school football coach for over 20 years so I figured I would just follow in his footsteps and continue to play.”
His father is the EHS football coach and when the father moved to EHS from Arapahoe High School, Carson followed, “I wanted to always play for him regardless of wherever he was. Whether or not it was Arapahoe or over here at Englewood.”
Campbell says, it is the summer training that really helps the team, , “We've been working hard all summer and we're continuing to get better all the time, and I think we're doing pretty good. There's always room for improvement of course, but I feel like we have a good kind of steady motion of progress.”
Carson’s father, Head Football Coach Mike Campbell has been coaching for over 20 years, “I started coaching high school football as an assistant for one of my old coaches. And I don't know from there, I got into it and never been out of it. I went back and got my education license and started teaching so I could coach,” Coach Campbell said.
Coach Campbell keeps much of his focus on his players and their futures on the field, “I think that we have the potential to be very good, but when you're playing that many young guys, when things get tough, sometimes you can be a little fragile, so we'll have to see how they react when there's adverse situations and zones.”
For every student athlete to succeed on the field, they first must succeed in the classroom. Coach Campbell is proud of the sophomore class players, “Not one of them failed a class last year, which has never happened in my time as a coach. So I felt like that was a step in the right direction.”
Players are confident this season, especially the sophomores. Sophomore Josiah Jennings-Wright is excited for the season, “I'm feeling happy. It's exciting when you have a chance to make the playoffs.”
Jennings-Wright relates to his fellow sophomore players, “We're prepared, it's a lot of work. But we're young and we have time to grow.”
With a new year, there is a whole new set of freshmen players. Dylan Noll (9) is excited to be a part of the team, “It's a great opportunity. I get the playing time, it helps me prepare for other sports, and I have good connections with people on the team.”
With the big win last week 59-0 over Sheridan, Noll and the team took it with pride, “For our first game, I'm glad we won. It wasn't much of a challenge, but we won nonetheless which in my opinion, a good thing.”
Englewood High School football team takes on Arvada High School here at home at 1:00.
Head Coach Mike Campbell is confident the team will win the homecoming game this year, with it being the big Pirate Bowl game, “That's the Battle of the Pirates. You know, it's a trophy game and we've won it every year I've been here, but it's still a big rivalry kind of situation and so you have to keep your emotions in check. And then, you have the whole homecoming week leading up to it. So I hope that we'll be able to just keep a hold of our emotions and go play football and if we do those things, I feel pretty confident that we'll give our school a homecoming win.”
News Reporting
Click above for Pkg on Rep Crow Visit
A personal insight into a politician. Students, staff, and members of the Englewood School Board met at Englewood High School and had the opportunity to talk to our U.S. Representative. Friday, January 20th, Jason Crow visited the high school, “I thought it was a really cool experience and personally, I never thought I’d even meet anybody of that like nature. I feel like he wanted to learn more about our school and more about our district,” said Senior Sean McKee.
This was Crows’ first school visit in the newly drawn Colorado’s sixth district. With over one million people moving to Colorado in the past few years, the districts were redesigned and Englewood became part of Colorado’s sixth district, leading Jason Crow to become its representative. Superintendent Dr. Wendy Rubin was very excited that Congressman Crow is representing the sixth district now, “He is just a really, really wonderful man. He has a lot of integrity, a lot of commitment to ideals and values.”
Jason Crow told students he had quite the journey to get to where he is today. He has always had a love for serving his country, and worked minimum wage jobs growing up, including construction, until finally enlisting in the military to pay for college, “I was born and raised in a family that didn’t have a lot of money for college for me. So I actually enlisted in the National Guard originally, and that started my public service career. So as a teenager, my first time serving the country was in uniform.”
Live Stream
Live color commentating - EHS vs Jefferson (time code :00-39:00)
Learning Broadcasting includes the live component and color commentating for events including sports. We cover all home football games and two home games from every sport over the course of a school year.
It takes two weeks to learn the basics of the live stream equipment, test it, and gather player information on INFO sheets.
The first time the mic opened on a live broadcast I felt overwhelmed, but with time it became easier and I understood what was happening during the game so that I could add value to the broadcast.
EHS Hype Video
Each year, the broadcast class works on a video showcasing the people and programs that make Englewood High School special. This video is used by the school district to promote the school and attract new students. It takes three weeks of planning, two weeks of shooting video, and coordination with the school leadership to get a full picture of the school through video. I was honored to spearhead this project, coordinated the videographers, and edited the final project.
Skill Set
In addition to the above skills I have learned over the course of my time in journalism, I love that my advisers work to make us well-rounded journalists.
Podcast
PirateTV Studio
Our TV studio has been upgraded with state-of-the-art equipment. As the lead producer, I have spent weeks learning the different parts of the studio to produce the best product. In most instances, I act as show director. I love making sure that the newscast is produced, the pkgs, vo, vo/sots and stills are complete, loaded and ready to roll. I also make sure the teleprompter and audio staff are ready with their parts.
It is fun to work in a broadcast community at another school (EHS), working with the other students (staff) and seeing their growth throughout the year.
Above is the link to my anchoring debut on PirateTV. I thrive behind the scenes and love coordinating the news shows, but we learn all aspects of a broadcast news show and it is important to spend time in front of the camera as well.
Summary
In this day and age, Journalism is seen by the public as biased and ugly. Presidents and members of Congress as well as business leaders use "the media" as a bad word. My goal is, to tell the truth, and not spread false information. As a member of the next generation of journalists, I think it is critical that we use all the tools at our disposal to speak truth to power, give voice to students, find the good and the bad within the walls of our schools, and create an environment of open communication.
One priority for me is ensuring all groups, inside our schools or in the community, are represented. Finding those who keep to themselves is important because they may have much to add to the conversation or something insightful to share. My goal as a journalist has always been to listen first and tell the story second.
My broadcast adviser always talks about the importance of good, ethical journalism and has taught us about the importance of good reporting, quality information, and ethical behavior on the scene of an incident.
This fall (2023), I plan on continuing my studies in the field of Journalism by studying communications and production. I will be attending the University of Missouri, one of the oldest, and best Journalism programs in the country. I hope to be a producer at A24 someday. Taking these challenging classes in high school has better prepared me for my next steps at one of the top journalism schools in the country. I am continuing to learn from everyone I talk to, to better understand the community around me and every skill I learn to choose the best path for myself.
Contact Me
Email: Ajnorejko120@gmail.com