My name is Sierra Pape

I am a high school senior, curious journalism student, active news reporter and passionate storyteller. Through this website, I am sharing my reflections and lessons learned from 3 1/2 years at The Southerner, one of the nation's best high school journalism programs, located in the heart of Atlanta.

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Currently, I am a senior at Midtown High School, a public school in the heart of Atlanta.  As a 4.0 student, I am enrolled in a challenging curriculum of AP and Honors classes and am pursuing the Journalism track.

At Midtown, we are fortunate to have one of the nation’s leading student newspapers, The Southerner, with a readership of over 185,000 annually. This year I serve as 1 of 6 Editors-in-Chief, which allows me to lead a paper spreading truthful news on critical topics and amplify unheard voices in metro Atlanta on key subjects.  In the past 4 years, I have been pleased to win 11 national Best of SNO awards for our published articles, “Top News Story of 2023” by GSPA, 1st place for News-Online Storytelling Category for SIPA, and 2nd Place in the Political Writing Category by the National Quill & Scroll. At GSPA’s Spring Conference last year, I was awarded All-Georgia Junior Journalist of the Year Runner-Up based on the 9 pillars of journalism created by NSPA.

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In addition, I serve as Board Head for my local chapter of the nonpartisan national organization “When We All Vote,” which has the mission to increase voter turnout for historically underrepresented segments of society; in 2022-24 we activated over 625 high school students to register to vote and were highlighted by Michelle Obama.

Outside of school, I work to uplift youth voices by serving as the Vice Chair of the Fulton County Youth Commission, a selective organization to express the most pressing issues for youth to our local commissioners. Last year, as a Model Atlanta Regional Commissioner (MARC), I represented Atlanta’s youth, contributing to programs focused on transportation, sustainability, and community development. 

In 2023, I was honored to receive the National Council of English Teachers (NCTE) 2023 First Class National Distinction, for the Top Achievement Award in Writing and Promising Young Writers Contest, which was awarded to three students in Georgia and only 114 students across the country.

Engaging deeply in our community and sharing truthful information is a passion of mine that I look forward to pursuing throughout my career and life.