COVID-19 Coverage
The COVID-19 pandemic is a turning point for our generation. I decided to make this topic its own category to showcase my COVID-19 breaking news focused coverage because I spent so much time informing the community about key events surrounding the pandemic
Instagram Posts
March - August 2020
Instagram is an excellent way to convey information quickly. For these posts, I synthesized information from a recent update. For some, I was able to prepare a post beforehand when a new update was anticipated. This way, I just needed to fill in certain blanks and then post within minutes, such that this was the first method students would learn about the update. All of these posts have stories on thehuronemery.com that were posted shortly after and go into greater detail.
What you need to know about the AAPS COVID-19 health update
March 2020
On March 11, the Ann Arbor Public Schools Superintendent was expected to give an update regarding the COVID-19 outbreak in the form of a live stream at 7pm. At this point in time, tensions were high as school closing seemed inevitable. The live stream did not work because too many individuals were trying to watch, but there was a statement saying that a video message would be posted shortly. It was over 45-minutes long and posted after 10:30 pm. Most were not interested in watching this, but I did and synthesized it in this article. This became the top source for current information for my school community. The next morning several individuals thanked me for staying up to write this for them, and to date it is the most viewed article on the Emery website.
Fresh
COVID-19 Information Page
April 2020
I was given complete flexibility for this page. Included in our digitally released issue 5, the only requirement was that it covers the COVID-19 pandemic. I created all the content and design from this page (excluding the jumped story on the bottom), and it is certainly the most time and thought I've ever put on a single page. This issue was released in mid-April, and I wanted it to reflect on the past while looking into the future. I summarized key events, but made sure to not dwell on old things. I carefully selected my colors, and designed the icons to have a more lighthearted feel. Although this is a very serious topic, I didn't want anyone to feel intimidated or scared by the page. This page was featured in JEA's national magazine in fall 2020 as an example for "COVID-19 Coverage Best Practices."
Schools are closed for the year and here’s what to expect
April 2020
Almost everyone knew schools were going to close for the year, but no one really knew how it was going to work. I knew that on this day gov. Whitmer would sign an order closing k-12 schools for the year, and that there would be a press conference about it that morning. Within an hour of the order being public, I had looked through the 17-page long document and summarized key points for students, families and staff. Although it does not include information specific to AAPS, I was able to have this article published before the school district gave a statement in response, so that for many it was truly the first way they found out about the news.
