KYRA BALCH
The Blaze Co-Editor In Chief 25-26
JEA Wisconsin Journalist of the Year 2026
Reporting & Writing
Writing is by far my favorite part of journalism. There are eight billion people in this world and every one of them has a unique story that deserves telling. I know I won't be able to tell everyone's story, however, I will die happy knowing I told as many as I could.
My Writing Process
We start each deadline with the assignments. I write out all the things that need to be done and then allow people to sign up for the different elements. These elements include spreads, stories and photos for each event/sport that we cover. In some cases, like tight deadlines, the editors will choose who does what to ensure everything will go smoothly.
When it comes to interviews, I make sure everything is planned out. I plan my interviews out on my phone by starting with listing who exactly I need to interview. Afterwards I write out all my questions, aiming for around 15-20. When interviewing them, I only take glances at my phone if I need to remember a question, otherwise I just go with the flow of the conversation.
When writing a story about people, being in their element is super important. I make sure to go to at least one practice, game or event that the story is about. I get a feel for their environment and take pictures that can be used in the spread. This also helps me write my lead if I choose to go for scene setting.
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Getting my story organized is one of my favorite things to do. I start by writing out what I need to know about each person and their best quotes, highlighting my favorites. Then, I highlight the best ones from each. I figure out the layout of the quotes, the way I want to tell the story and then I begin writing.
After writing the first draft, our copy editor will read through my story and make suggestions. After making the changes, the copy editor will reread the story to make sure it is the best it can be before puting it in the final draft folder.
With the completion of the stories, I add the story onto the spread along with a headline and a sub-headline.
My Stories
Click any picture to read the story!
Sports
Sports is a huge part of high school culture, and it is my job as a journalist to get the stories that people don't usually hear about. These are my favorite stories to write because they can go in so many different directions. Once I find my angle, there is so much to learn about.
As a huge baseball fan, I was excited to learn more about the behind the scenes. In this case, the deadline was within a week of baseball season starting, makng any story about their games/practices very difficult. I decided to go with a story about committed players on their way to college.
I was a runner on the cross country team, so this story was a little strange. I wrote about preparing and qualifying for state. I knew everything there was to know, so I had to be extra careful that I provided enough information for people who knew absolutely nothing about it.
I worked with one of my close friend on the gymnastics spread, her being in charge of the design. Having been a gymnast in the past, this brought back so many memories. I was inspired by this feeling when I wrote the story. There were only two gymnasts from my school, and they were both seniors. With this year being their final year on this team, I did a "recap" story on their years in the sport and where they were headed after.
Last Pitch
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photo by Kyra Balch
Race to Fate
photo by Talon Larson
Changing Routines
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photo by Alyssandra Becker
News
News stories are a bit different. There are different ways you can go about it, but it all revolves around a specific event. It is very important to keep bias out of these stories.
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"The Storm that Fooled Everyone" was the first story I ever wrote. Without the encouragement and motivation from my teacher, I would never have found my love of writing. Although it was originally just an assignment, the story was also chosen to be featured in the yearbook.
Having Ava Smith as a close friend, I was super excited for her when she won Student Journalist of the Year for Wisconsin. I was lucky enough to be tasked with writing a story about it. She has been a huge help for me in all of my endeavors, so I knew I needed to make her proud with this story. This did come with a challenge, however. With writing a story about someone I am close friends with, it became difficult at times to remember to stay unbiased. I was forced to change my positive view into a general one. This was a good obstical to overcome, as I can now use this skill in my future stories.
The Storm that Fooled Everyone
photo by Talon Larson
Ava Smith Wins JEA Award
photo by Alyssandra Becker
Student Life
Student life stories catch the sides of people you don't see in school. It's a more personable story as its more about who these people are, rather than what they are achieving in school.
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The Costa Rica story is the first student life story I have ever written. It's based on an educational school trip to Costa Rica. I decided write about how the students impacted Costa Rica, and how Costa Rica impacted the students. This was one of the most interesting and different stories I've ever written.
Pura Vida!
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photo provided by Michelle Zazula
Personality Profiles
Personality Profiles are arguably the most intimate stories you can write. They can express ones' uniqueness, personality, achievments, aspirations and more. In the yearbook, we choose two people from each grade to write a profile about. To pick, we send out a survey to the student body, asking if they know anyone who has a unique story or is just an all around good person.
We picked Omar Gutierrez-Cerda for one of the juniors, and I was the writer. I focused on his Aztec Dancing and what it means to his religion. This was one of my favorite stories to write because I didn't know anything about it, so I had so much to learn. Even after the interviews, I was still researching more and asking more questions.
"One Shot," the profile on Nicholas Slater, is my favorite story I've ever written. He was such a well spoken person with so many achievements and goals. I had three interviews with him alone, each lasting over 10 minutes. I kept wanting to know more and more and write the best story I could. It was hard to keep it shorter with how much information I got, but with AP style writting, I was able to tighten things up and tell the important information.
"Raise the Rhythm" was the hardest story I've ever written. In a time crunch, we needed a freshman boy. We went to a class that happened to have only one boy in it and we took the chance. I decided to go into the interview sort of blindly and begin by just getting to know Charles Morgan. When I asked about his hobbies, I hit gold. He makes music. The down side; he's only shared his music with his family and one security guard. I am happy to say I was able to make it work with little resources and little room on the spread. I'm happy with the outcome.
Dancing with Culture
photo by Lizzett Barrera
One Shot
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photo by Autumn Bradley
Raise the Rhythm
photo by Autumn Bradley