Insider summer interns
pursuing arts, sports and community stories.
Shehreen Karim remembers writing her first article in 11th grade. She remembers the connection she felt as she interviewed a teacher at her school who gained citizenship after spending his childhood undocumented.
Since then, the Grover Cleveland Charter High School graduate has continued to write about social justice issues as a student journalist. Now, as an intern for L.A. Times High School Insider, she enjoys learning about the journalism field and covering South Asians in the LGBTQ community.
“It’s a bigger platform for me to share my articles and to get a larger audience, and they have more resources,” Karim said.
Her friend Elliott Hyon, who also graduated from Grover Cleveland Charter High School in June, said he appreciates her passion for telling hidden stories.
“She always wants to highlight stories of marginalized communities and share information on groups of people that the news cycle tends to ignore,” Hyon said.
Prearna Ahmed, a friend who also graduated this year, said she likes how Karim writes a lot about the LGBTQ community and feminism.
“I like Shehreen’s energy and dedication that she puts into her journalism work,” Ahmed said. “She always takes constructive criticism well, and she really puts her all into the stories she writes about.”
Karim, who grew up in Reseda, wants to continue pursuing journalism in college. She will attend Pierce College in the fall and hopes to eventually transfer to UC Berkeley.
“Shehreen is an activist, and she cares about others,” Ahmed said. “She has a positive and carefree energy that makes you feel like you can tell her anything.”
Hyon believes Karim will go far because she always cares about what she writes about.
“Shehreen is a resilient and bubbly person,” he said. “She’s always the bigger person through situations. She always finds her way around tough obstacles, and she tends to always have a smile on her face.”
After Leslie Martinez moved from downtown Los Angeles to Inglewood suburbs during her early teenage years, her world shifted and she looked to the arts to express herself.
From an early age, Martinez said she was overwhelmingly leftbrained which she used in her illustrations and writing, which soon transformed into journalism. Martinez, 17, discovered a love for journalism through Vice News. Its coverage of world news and cultural perspectives fascinated her.
“Now that I’m looking back, she’s always been the type to write small letters for people, and she’s always expressed how she’s felt through writing and art,” said Michelle Antino, Martinez’s close childhood friend.
Her art and perseverance have even sparked entrepreneurship between her and her close friend Christopher Ekong. The two are working on a company called Honor Roll, known as @honorcll on Instagram, which will feature signature Martinez illustrations on T-shirts, skateboard decks and stickers.
Martinez’s love for art and her desire to learn new things has resulted in endless doodles, illustrations, photography and, eventually, writing.
“At first she would draw and do little comics,” Ekong said. “And that turned into songwriting and poems. And that turned into journalism.”
Since then, Martinez has begun exploring journalism in depth and enjoys having a platform to tell stories that matter. At first, she said it was difficult for her to talk to people, but journalism is what forced her to step outside her comfort zone and become more social.
“I like having a platform where you can share other people’s stories,” Martinez said.
As for her future in journalism, Martinez hopes to grow more confident in her work to the point where she can pursue the field seriously.
Both Antino and Ekong believe Martinez’s hard work and perseverance will take her great places in life, no matter the field or career.
“She has gotten a lot more confident with herself,” Antino said. “Whenever she puts her mind to something she can do it.”
From food to extracurriculars, Riona Sheik loves to try new things, which came from her years of traveling.
By going to more than six countries including Turkey, Bangladesh, Indonesia and Costa Rica, and all over the United States, Sheik has met all kinds of people and believes that has given her a better understanding of the world around her.
“The world is a big place,” Sheik said. “There are so many different people with so many different perspectives. You can’t really sum [the world] up in one sentence.”
Through her worldly experience, she has been able to gain a certain intellect.
“She’s really intelligent in every way,” her friend Alisha Islam said. “She understands other people really well.”
Seeing new places inspires her to learn and to step out of her comfort zone. She stays focused on what’s going on around her.
“I’ve always been … aware of what’s going on in the world,” Sheik said. “Me and my dad watch ‘World News’ every day. I always thought it was really interesting.”
Sheik is now a rising senior at Whitney High School. During her sophomore year, she joined a program called Young Senator Leadership Program and became more involved in politics.
“She’s told me she wants to be a lawyer ever since she was really young,” Islam said. “She’s always been really focused on getting there.”
Sheik went on to intern for two congresswomen, Judy Chu and Linda Sánchez, immersing herself in the political world.
Sheik found the perfect thing to mix her love for traveling and politics: writing.
Because there was no newspaper at her school, Sheik began to write for the L.A. Times High School Insider. Although she always liked writing, it wasn’t until recently that she got into journalism.
“She started writing a lot when she was a second or third-grader,” said her father Sheik Moinuddin. “It was something she always liked. She would write for classes and for herself.”
Sheik is the founder and editorin-chief of her school’s first newspaper. Without opening herself up to new places and experiences, she said she may have never found the things she cares deeply about.
Kara Smith’s interest in journalism stems from what she sees as a lack of attention to the struggles of black people in American society. Her passion for journalism has led her to be named next year’s editorin-chief of her school’s newsletter.
Smith is a rising senior at Los Angeles Center for Enriched Studies High School, where she is a minority in a majority white and Asian school. She has lived in Windsor Hills for the last 12 years and grew up perceiving the mistreatment of black people.
“Experiencing oppression, racism and colorism opened my eyes to how bad society is,” Smith said. “I saw how I was treated and how black people were treated. If I wrote about it, people read it and people would be like, ‘I didn’t know that,’ and maybe they would change the way they act or talk.”
Homero Rojas, Smith’s friend and co-editor-in-chief at LACES, said she is also an optimistic personality around school.
“It’s helpful to have a boost of sunshine that you don’t always get on campus,” Rojas said. “It’s always fun to see what she’s going to write about, especially when it’s something that she’s passionate about like African American rights.” She’s also big on zodiac signs. “I’ll just be talking to Kara or just doing something and she’ll be like, ‘Oh, my God, you are such a Libra,’ ” Rojas said. “Or she’ll send me memes on Instagram or text and she’ll just say, ‘This is literally you,’ and it’s a zodiac page.”
Smith’s mother, Shanda Crawford, said her daughter is proactive in helping people learn about the struggles that challenge the black community.
“She realized on her own that there are gaps and that there were things missing in society that needed to be told or explained,” Crawford said. “I’m very proud of her that she’s willing to be outspoken and so adamant about helping people learn about what’s missing in society and what needs to happen.”
As she becomes a more competent journalist, Smith envisions continuing to spread knowledge on the everyday struggles black people face in society.
“Writing is the way I convey these things,” Smith said. “I’m going to continue writing and I love journalism.”