KUNR Youth Media

Meet our KUNR Youth Media students for spring 2022

KUNR Public Radio | By KUNR Staff

Published April 9, 2022 at 2:55 PM PDT

Two young girls are sitting across from each other in a colorful room. One student is holding up a microphone and wearing headphones. — Maddie Rose interviewing Celeste Maria Rizo Rivas during a class on February 3, 2022

KUNR’s Youth Media program is training the next generation of journalists and elevating the voices and perspectives of high school students in our region. Student reporters produce interviews, audio diaries, commentaries and news stories that air and publish on KUNR. Get to know this semester’s student reporters below.

Ashton Taylor

Ashton is a junior at Galena High School. He joined with an interest in audio production and storytelling. Outside of the youth media program, Ashton enjoys music, camping, and mountain biking.

Celeste Maria Rizo Rivas

There is a girl in a black shirt sitting in front of a black background and she is smiling.

Celeste is a senior at McQueen High School. She spends most of her time listening to music and keeping herself busy with extracurricular activities such as leadership and NHS. When she has free time, she loves to paint and watch movies.

Ellie Mundt

There is a girl wearing a tie dye shirt sitting in front of a black background and she is smiling.

Ellie is a senior at the Academy of Arts, Careers, and Technology. She enjoys dancing and listening to audio books, and she is on the news team for AACT's video production program. Her work in creating music videos and short creative films for Reno Film Festival X sparked her interest in journalism.

Kade Collins

There is a boy wearing a grey sweater and he is sitting in front of a black background and smiling.

Kade is a senior at the Academy of Arts, Careers, and Technology. In his spare time, he enjoys playing video games and making music, and he was part of the Reed High School marching band throughout high school. He is also part of the video production team at AACT.

Kaden Ackerson

Kaden is a junior at Spanish Springs High School. In school, Kaden loves studying English and history. Outside of school, she spends a lot of time reading and traveling. She has a passion for photography and hopes to further understand the world through journalism.

Kathleen Leslie

There is a girl wearing a jean jacket and she is sitting in front of a patterned background while smiling.

Kathleen is a senior in high school and attends the Academy of Arts, Careers, and Technology. She was previously part of the youth media program in the fall of 2021. Kathleen enjoys playing with her cat and figuring out the best way to manage her time before graduation, and she is happy to be doing work for KUNR again.

Kesley Morris

There is a girl sitting in front of a black background and she is wearing a black hoodie. The girl is smiling.

Kesley is a senior at Spanish Springs High School. Outside of the youth media program, she enjoys skiing, writing, drawing, reading, and music, but especially being able to write her own stories.

Maddie Rose

There is a girl sitting in front of a black background and she is wearing a black jacket with a grey shirt and she is smiling.

Maddie is a junior at Damonte Ranch High School. She is very interested in film and media. More specifically, she's interested in cinematography and production. In school, she really enjoys history and likes to read a lot in her spare time.

Stella Cole

There is a girl wearing a blue and green striped sweater in front of a black background and she is smiling.

Stella is a junior at Reno High School. She enjoys painting and is interested in cinematography as she also enjoys making movies with her friends, and she even hopes to have a career in that field.

KUNR Youth Media is run by staff from KUNR, Report for America and the Washoe County School District. Bob Zorn is the instructor, Lucia Starbuck is the editor and coordinator, Nick Stewart is a peer mentor and digital producer, Lucretia Cunningham is a digital producer, Crystal Willis is the digital editor and Michelle Billman is the managing editor.

Learn more about the KUNR Youth Media program

Each fall and spring semester, our dedicated program coordinator partners with the WCSD educator to mentor a select group of high school interns. The internship classes are typically from 2:15 to 4:15 p.m. at the high school, providing a structured environment where students receive comprehensive instruction.

The students are taught radio journalism, broadcast journalism, and media production, gaining real-world professional experience that helps them develop career skills. Students work with media professionals to produce creative audio stories and elevate voices from our region.

As part of the program, students are offered the opportunity to tour KUNR’s facilities and the Reynolds School of Journalism at the University of Nevada, Reno, where they will have the chance to record their broadcasts under the guidance of the WCSD educator and the program coordinator.

This semester-long project is designed to facilitate the airing of the students' stories on KUNR and the publication of their work on KUNR.org. Through this experiential learning approach, students gain valuable insights into public media and develop practical skills using industry-standard equipment.

The KUNR Youth Media Coordinator plays a crucial role in ensuring that students receive scholarly guidance on the standards and practices associated with audio journalism production.

Our program is committed to fostering a safe and constructive learning environment for all participants. KUNR is dedicated to nurturing the creative ideas of students in the program and, prior to publication, KUNR’s Managing Editor reviews all submitted work to ensure that it aligns with KUNR’s established media standards and expectations.

This program was formerly known as Reno Youth Radio.