Meet KUOW's Summer 2019 RadioActive youth producers

KUOW's RadioActive Youth Media is proud to offer our 16th annual Intro to Radio Journalism Workshop. Sixteen teens, aged 15-18, will spend seven weeks learning what it means to be a radio journalist.

They'll do all of the research, interviews, writing, voicing and editing it takes to produce their own feature stories and podcasts. By the end of August, the group will have produced 16 spot stories, 16 feature stories and 12 podcasts.

Antonio Nevarez, Tyee High School (Sophomore)

In my free time, I like to play video games and take photos. I'd like to call it photography, but I'd prefer to say I just take pictures of stuff, no real effort. I'm obsessed with Marvel, so much so that I've met three Marvel actors (Chris Evans, Tom Holland and Drake Bell, the voice of Spider-Man). I like to write, and I want to find something I'm good at, and hopefully find a potential career with KUOW and journalism in general.

Ayesha Mohammed, Tesla STEM High School (Junior)

I am a book enthusiast, soccer player, and artist. My love for these things developed at a young age. From reading Junie B. Jones in first grade to coaching a soccer camp to making origami, I have always been passionate and outspoken about the things I love. I am passionate about helping the environment and making the lives of people around me better. I want to create things that can help me achieve my goal. I am hardworking and earnest in my work. I hope to learn how to create stories that can change the world.

Celia Therese Fragale, Franklin High School (Senior)

I didn’t believe I was good at writing until this year. This is partly because I put a lot of weight on my teachers’ approval. Despite my self-doubt, I have always enjoyed storytelling, especially storytelling through digital media. In middle school, I found my love for filmmaking. Since then, I began to realize the impact and importance of sound in storytelling. Outside of school, you can find me training for cross country, running cross country, or thinking about cross country.

Charlotte Engrav, Eastside Preparatory School (Sophomore)

I’ve always enjoyed listening to stories. When I was younger, I used to fall asleep every night listening to the Harry Potter audiobooks, so much so that they’re practically engrained in my mind. Recently, this interest in listening to stories has morphed into an interest in telling stories. This passion for creative writing has really interested me in the journalism world, and I hope to learn more about myself and methods of telling other people’s stories through radio journalism.

Eriberto Saavedra Felix, Tyee High School (Sophomore)

I am 15 years old. I am a soccer lover. I have been playing soccer for about 10 years, and I am still going. I am a strong-minded person and a dedicated person. I don’t really give up so easily on things that are vital to finish. I have big dreams after high school, and I hope to pursue them one day. That dream is to go professional in soccer and then continue my work as a sports journalist. I am a family man. I love my family to death no matter the situation. I love to have fun, laugh, and get other people to laugh. Other people laughing is my motivation to just keep being me.

Essey Kelete Paulos, Kentridge High School (Junior)

I am a passionate Eritrean American girl who absorbs herself in culture. My love for poetry, writing and art has grown tremendously since I was a child simply because of my original love of telling stories. I aspire to become a successful businesswoman and to make my parents, who have worked incredibly hard, proud. I take advantage of the opportunities I have received by taking a stand in not only my school and community but also worldwide. Journalism will help me through this as I continuously learn the true history of life and spread the awareness.

Hong Ta, Raisbeck Aviation High School (Graduate)

I am a first-generation immigrant and Vietnamese American. I am passionate about politics and social justice, and hope to be able to amplify the narratives of my community through journalism. I will attend the University of Puget Sound as a Matelich scholar, majoring in Politics and Government. I interned at congressional, legislative and mayoral campaigns, and hope to become a lawyer and policymaker in the future. I am also a huge podcast fan - my favorite podcasts are FiveThirtyEight Politics and the New York Times' The Argument!

Huma Ali, Lake Washington High School (Senior)

After listening to my father nag me to practice writing for a number of years, I decided to do it and ended up loving it. Now I've become wholeheartedly passionate about the power of words. In my spare time, I can be found writing reviews of local arts and culture happenings—and sometimes just episodes of Fresh Off the Boat. I am also a patron of the arts and feel drawn to film and literature, among other mediums. Additionally, I adore reading The New Yorker's short stories and journalism about crime and legendary heists.

Lucas Galarneau, Nova High School (Freshman)

I like to draw, and I'm a big fan of podcasts, books and cartoons. I've always been interested in stories and media, and how they can affect people in the real world. Stories can make you feel powerful, inspired and help you see perspectives you may not have been able to experience before. I want to help people experience the world in new ways through stories of my own.

Marian Mohamed, Kent-Meridian High School (Senior)

A proud Somali, Muslim woman with the heart to help those in the Kent community. A seventeen year old girl with the passion of storytelling and a writer since the age of nine. Shy at first but once I get to know you and become comfortable, I will be sure to make you laugh with a few jokes. I want to speak up for those who have no voice and want to change the world for the better one story at a time.

Michael Sheeran, West Seattle High School (Sophomore)

Ever since childhood, I've been intrigued by the outdoors, different cultures, cars, plants and people of all kinds. I also have a passion for talking, to put it simply. I really enjoy making videos about cars, music and biking for my YouTube channel, which is an outlet for my interest in letting people know about my hobbies and events in our world today. I love being an active part in the community- through volunteer services like Bike Works programs, and now KUOW! I have a lot to contribute, and I'm a friendly and happy person. It's great to have the opportunity to learn and grow, all while pitching in my part at the same time! :)

Michelle Aguilar Ramirez, Renton High School (Junior)

I will be enrolling into Bellevue College this fall with the running start program to pursue my future career, as well as be president of Latinx Student Union at my high school. I’m extremely involved with school from sports to clubs and everything else. A thing I tell myself all the time is that everything has its purpose no matter what the situation is. I’m super outgoing, determined, hardworking and accepting of others no matter what. I can’t wait to see what this summer as well as this overall year has in store for me.

Morgen White, Ballard High School (Senior)

I love the process of storytelling. I am a well-rounded student, and am detail-oriented with things I am passionate about. I love to listen to music, paint, draw, take photos, make films, play Frisbee, and learn, especially when it is focused in the realm of creativity. I think I have an interesting take on the world, but it’s also important to see other people’s perspectives. I’ve learned over the years that the most important quality in telling stories is being able to build them with others. I love collaboration because it only makes the final product better.

Ritika Managuli, International Community School (Sophomore)

I’m a person who loves to talk. I talk at meetings, I give inspirational speeches to teenagers in my community, and I engage in verbal disagreements. As a junkie for fictional novels and my love of speech, the ability to tell stories about societal issues as well as actions people can take to make the community we live in healthier, is what I'm most excited for. I hope to not only tell stories but learn from them as well, expanding my knowledge of this world.

Simone St. Pierre Nelson, Gibson Ek High School (Junior)

I’ve always loved a good story. When I was younger, I would whip through three or five books a week - once I picked one up, I felt like I couldn't put it down until I was finished. Since then, life has slowly whittled my reading habits down to a more ‘reasonable’ level... but to compensate, I’ve been exploring new mediums of storytelling along the way. These past two years I’ve been entranced by podcasts - fiction, nonfiction, narrative or nonsense. Their ability to place a listener into another time, place, or even world through sound effects and engineering had me hooked from the first time I listened to an episode of Welcome to Night Vale. Through this workshop, I hope to bring a new perspective on high school education and college admissions with my experiences at a Big Picture Learning school. I’m so excited to take a step into the world of audio journalism and be able to tell my own stories, and even be given the chance to lift up those in my community so that their voice can be heard.

Sonya Sheptunov, Inglemoor High School (Senior)

After drifting through life for 15 years with nothing but a will to help people, I joined my school newspaper and found a true home among the craft and people. I love to write and tell people’s stories as well as share my own. I’m bilingual, and tend to express myself in bouts of humor, art and creativity. There’s a high chance that if you spot me at a Starbucks drinking way too much coffee we’ll find ourselves laughing in a couple minutes. I have much to learn about the world — about journalism and about myself — but I’m ready and eager to face it all with and open mind and an open heart.

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