Elena Paces-Wiles is a senior and coeditor of the Riverside High School student newspaper, The Pirates’ Hook. There, she has focused on investigative journalism that exposes inequities. She will now go on to represent the state in the National High School Journalist of the Year scholarship competition, where a winner will be announced in April.
How has writing for The Pirates’ Hook been, and what made you get into journalism?
I first decided to join journalism because my freshman year [of school] was online. I followed The Pirates’ Hook on Instagram and saw many of their stories. They were really cool, and I wanted to get involved. I also had always been interested in writing.
How does it feel to be awarded the NC High School Journalist of the Year?
It’s definitely exciting. It says a lot about our program. More than just me, all the hard work that everyone and my adviser has put in speaks to the strength of our program. [Working with my adviser] has been a really invaluable part of my high school experience. It’s been great.
What type of stories do you like to cover?
My favorite stories to cover have been investigative stories that take the whole semester, just like more long-form stuff, which I think we first started in 2021 with the partnership with the Ida B. Wells Society for Investigative Reporting [that was then housed at UNC-Chapel Hill]. We’ve done a lot of long-form, semester-long investigative research, and it’s my favorite.
What do you plan to do after graduating?
I plan to attend college to major in psychology.
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