Commitment to Diversity
At Theogony, diversity is not a buzzword — it is an obligation. As the student newspaper of one of the most diverse high schools in the country, we have a duty to ensure that our coverage reflects and amplifies the voices of underrepresented communities. That means not just reporting on diversity when it is convenient or expected, but integrating it into every decision — the stories we cover, the sources we seek out, the images we publish, and the voices we choose to elevate.
Demographics
Yet, true representation is not automatic. Our staff this year does not fully reflect the diversity of ACHS — only about 20% of our staff are students of color, and about 40% are women. Recognizing this, I have made it a priority to correct this imbalance through our reporting. If our newsroom does not reflect the full student body, then our coverage must. Every issue, every story, every photo selection is approached with the question, Are we truly representing the students of Alexandria City High School?
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To contextualize the scale of our responsibility, below are the ethnic and economic breakdowns of ACHS. These numbers serve as a reminder that our reporting must go beyond surface-level inclusion — it must accurately and consistently reflect the reality of our school.
Information from the Virginia Department of Education School Quality Profiles
Centering Underrepresented Voices
This graphic appeared in our print edition, allowing readers to cut out the cards.
Diversity in journalism is not just about who is included — it is about who is heard and whose concerns are taken seriously. Too often, marginalized communities are left out of the conversations that directly impact them. Theogony has made it a priority to correct that imbalance, covering issues that disproportionately affect students of color, immigrant communities, low-income students, LGBTQ+ students, younger students, teachers — groups that are often overlooked in school policy discussions.
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One of the most significant examples of this commitment was my investigation into the High School Project (HSP), the initiative by my school district that splits ACHS into four campuses. The goal of the HSP is to avoid segregation, but it has brought along its own concerns about equity. Essentially all decisions about the project have lacked meaningful input from the students and teachers who would be most affected by them, especially students from the International Academy (a group at my school of roughly 1,000 students who immigrated to the United States and don't speak fluent English) and underprivileged backgrounds.
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For the first article in Theogony's "Inside the High School Project" series, I wrote about the potential removal of 16 administrators from my school, and how that would impact students and staff. I also dove into what teachers described as a "culture of fear" at the school, exposing inequities for teachers that had never been shared publicly. A few months later, I wrote about how the district had decided to remove beloved administrators from the international academy — administrators who spoke multiple languages — and that International Academy students felt overlooked and undervalued after these changes. Both of these articles were published on the front page of the Alexandria Times, which is distributed in hundreds of locations, allowing the wider Alexandria community to take in the perspectives of these underrepresented students and teachers.
We have continued our coverage of the High School Project, diving into how it's caused students who rely on school lunch to often have less than the CDC recommended time to eat lunch, how it's created inequities surrounding transportation, and more.
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Another topic I helped write about was my experiences after my school district cancelled a program called Lunch & Learn, which was an extended lunch block of 74 minutes during which students could find connection in clubs, attend teacher office hours, ground themselves in nature, participate in athletics, and many more. The program provided opportunities for disadvantaged students who had responsibilities afterschool, like jobs or taking care of family members, to finally participate in the school community, an opportunity that had been denied to them for so long. I wrote about my experiences trying to restore the program the school district's efforts to block it.
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Additionally, to educate our immigrant population, I created a variation of the "little red cards," which contain information on the constitutional rights all people in the United States have when interacting with law enforcement. Translations online were available for Spanish and Arabic, but for two other prominent languages at my school — Amharic and Dari — they were not. So, I worked with my peers in the International Academy to translate the cards so this information was accessible to all students.
And finally, I've written multiple articles about teachers' perspectives — which have historically been under-looked — on topics like collective bargaining and teacher pay.
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I interviewed several International Academy students for my student perspective on the HSP.
My HSP article is on the front page of the Alexandria Times, spreading the messages of underrepresented students to a wide audience.
Fellow Theogony reporter Yahney-Marie Sangare and I present our experiences about Lunch & Learn.
One of my friends in the International Academy helped me translate the immigration information into Dari.
Constant Coverage
A screenshot of Theogony reporter Noah Sternberg's article on Afghan students' thoughts on the Taliban takeover.
Many publications make the mistake of featuring diverse voices only when it is expected. While these are important moments for cultural recognition, and we celebrate them, Theogony does not limit its commitment to representation to a specific time of year. Of course, for Black History Month in February, we published a spread honoring Black leaders in the community and country. But we have covered barrier-breakers since the first bell of the school year, from Alexandria's first Black woman to be elected mayor to female Afghan students who finally achieved their dreams of education.
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More specifically, our approach to diversity in coverage is not just about highlighting individuals but about examining the communities, policies, and systemic structures that shape their experiences. Rather than reducing diversity coverage to one-time features, we also integrate it into our reporting across all beats — news, sports, opinion, and investigations.
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Whether reporting on how Syrian ACHS students were impacted by the fall of the Assad regime, covering disproportionate overcrowding in elementary schools on Alexandria's west end, writing about normalized homophobia within the school, or breaking down statistics about male eating disorders, I'm proud of how our staff has covered underrepresented people, groups, programs, and ideas.​
Below are some featured articles by Theogony's staff:
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Source Selection
Our staff this year is far less diverse than in years prior, something we've worked to address.
Our staff manual, which I wrote, contains an expectation to include diverse sources.
This "mod" did not initially meet the eye test, so it was sent back to the staff writer.
One of our biggest challenges this year has been having a staff that is only 20% students of color, and 40% female. Compared to recent years, this is a major shift, and we are quite aware that our newsroom does not automatically reflect the full spectrum of ACHS. That means we must be proactive in how we select sources, ensuring that our reporting does not unintentionally amplify the voices of a select few while leaving others unheard.
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We have focused hard to make sure that our stories reflect a balance of perspectives across race, gender, immigration status, and social background, something clearly outlined in our staff manual and as an expectation to the staff. If we find that a piece lacks diversity in its sources, we fix it — seeking out additional voices before publication. This standard applies across all reporting but is especially crucial in stories about school policy, ensuring that decisions affecting marginalized students are discussed with input from those communities.
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Beyond sourcing, photojournalism is another key area where representation must be intentional. Our editors review every photo selection to ensure a fair representation of ACHS’s diverse student body. Each time we publish photos or a "mod," we ensure it passes the "eye-test" — that is that it contains people from a variety of races and genders. If we find an imbalance, we actively adjust our selections to prevent overrepresentation of any single group. This is not performative — it is about ensuring that every student at ACHS can see themselves in Theogony.