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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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 Cunninghamis a digital producer, Crystal Willis is the digital editor and Michelle Billman is the managing editor.