In Spring 2022, we partnered with The Creative School, a youth empowerment and storytelling nonprofit based in Congress Heights, to teach tweens and teens the fundamentals of being a reporter. Six local queens and kings elected to spend their spring break developing these skills and getting a firsthand look at journalism as a potential career path.

Each student pitched story ideas, conducted interviews and research, and took photos. Altogether, the students wrote five stories about topics they believe are important aspects of our community.

This workshop was the brainchild of WAMU/DCist photojournalist Dee Dwyer. We leaned heavily on her professional experience as an educator and the idea is a direct outgrowth of her monthly Voices of Wards 7 And 8 series.

This next generation of storytellers spent two days in the classroom planning their stories, then two days in the field reporting. The Congress Heights Arts and Culture Center was our base of operations while MLK Deli supplied breakfast and lunch. At the end of the week, we spent the day at Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library to get down to writing.