Alyssa Story’s ’23 passion for journalism has flourished during her time at LMU and now, as the Los Angeles Loyolan editor, she’s received a national award for her work. Story joined The Loyolan as an intern and has worked her way up: She was named editor-in-chief in January 2021 and is serving as the incoming chapter president of the National Association of Black Journalists and a member of the Society of Professional Journalists, a newly registered student organization starting fall 2021. In April, Story received a Gold Circle Award for her opinion piece called “On George” by the Columbia Scholastic Press Association.
“On George” is Story speaking directly from her heart, sharing her feelings from home during summer 2020 in Minneapolis, the town where police Officer Derek Chauvin murdered George Floyd. It was a moment that would spark a time of racial reckoning and protests all over the nation. Before that tragic day, Story had worked for a local radio station and interviewing people near the Cup Foods store where George Floyd took his last breath. “I was so familiar with that area, so I was following all of the news reports about what was happening very closely.” She contemplated if she should write about what was happening. Story felt nervous to voice how she felt: she seldom wrote about race before now. She did not want her personal opinions on race to limit her success.
As the editor of The Loyolan, Story meets weekly with Lane Bove, Ed.D., senior vice president for Student Affairs. From their work together, Bove shares, “With her keen intellect, tireless work ethic and passion for everything she commits to, Alyssa embodies what it means to be a Lion. That her intensely personal opinion piece on the murder of George Floyd in her hometown of Minneapolis, written just days after Floyd’s death, won this award should come as no surprise to those who know Alyssa. In my opinion, it is the first of many to come.”
“It was an honest opinion coming from what I had seen and felt in this community,” she says. “At the time, people were like ‘Minnesota, where is that and why is all that happening there?’ And obviously, it was a metaphor for what was happening in the rest of the country. Things could look good on the outside, but under the surface, there is a lot of stuff happening that isn’t always great.” The murder of George Floyd awoke raw emotion for many people. For Story it was all too familiar and wrapped in issues and inequities that her hometown was built on.
In her piece, Story writes, “Minneapolis is burning. My home is burning. This country is burning, and the embers won’t go out until substantial changes are made. This rage isn’t new. … This type of racism is a silent killer. It seeps in the cracks of homes and minds and infects everyone. For some, Minnesota is a near utopia. But, in reality, residential perfection is only for some. Minnesota has some of the largest equity gaps in the country for black people.”
Later that summer, the conversation shifted. “What we saw, later on, was that it was something everyone was feeling, and there was a reason that the killing of George Floyd was a catalyst for movements across the country,” she recalls. As the movement spread, Story felt that she shared her viewpoint from the eye of the storm and watched it grow through her community at LMU and all over the country. People throughout the country yearned to be heard and for the reality of racial injustice to be recognized. Story’s was one of those voices.
Story said she is eternally grateful for the positive reception “On George” has received. Winning the Gold Circle Award, a prestigious honor in the world of student journalism, was unexpected. “I’ve written a lot of opinion pieces, but this one, still to this day, is the most special one I feel like I’ve written, and for that to be the one that’s being recognized is so magical,” said Story. “I feel so strongly about being truthful about racial injustice and this experience of being honest and upfront about the reality of what is happening in America, but it was something I was afraid of for so many years. Now, it’s something that has reoriented my life and given me the confidence to be willing to speak up, to be an advocate and to educate myself, to write more and be bolder in my Blackness.”
This has also transformed how students at The Loyolan work together and educate one another. Story is a founding member of the Equity Inclusion Pluralism Group that helped restructure The Loyolan to celebrate pluralism and be more equitable and inclusive. This past semester they worked to update their style guides to use more inclusive and intentional language and train staff to ask for preferred pronouns when writing pieces about a person’s identity.
Story, a sophomore, feels young managing so much responsibility, but it’s her goal to push the student news organization to be responsible. “I believe in traditional journalism and feel responsible to this community at LMU,” shares Story. “We’re a part of LMU. We want them to embrace us as we embrace them.”
Story has found her community in the growing journalism program at LMU, where Story has connected with others passionate about media and storytelling. “I love storytelling and writing. There’s something so important about listening to other people and engaging in someone else’s story outside of your own. When done right, at its core, journalism has the goal of helping communities and lifting their voices to share.”