Originally published in the Pax et Bonum
Broadcast journalism and communications are professions that often attract people who want to be a voice for the voiceless. St. Francis Troubadour Peyton Spellacy '20 has not only felt this tug, she's found myriad opportunities at St. Francis and beyond to develop skills and gain valuable, and at times perspective-changing, experience. Peyton's dive into this world came about through what some would consider to be an unfortunate event; Peyton chose instead to turn it into something positive.
As a freshman at St. Francis, Peyton was delighted to make and play on the basketball team; an early knee surgery, however, took her out of the game. Missing the camaraderie of being on a team, Peyton got involved with St. Francis' sports media club and Troubie TV. She realized she had a knack as an on-air personality. And as her interest and passion grew, she took on other St. Francis projects, serving as the red-carpet emcee for St. Francis' 2018 Oscar party and then the on-air talent for the broadcast show of St. Francis' first SELFe event this fall.
Former Assistant Principal and Stanford graduate herself, Fadia Desmond, reached out to Peyton to let her know of a special summer program Stanford offered called News Room by the Bay. Peyton was accepted the summer of her freshman year and entered as the youngest student they ever had. She's now completed two summers and is set to go back as a Counselor-in-Training this summer. "Before News Room by the Bay, I thought about furthering my education and career in the area of chemistry," Peyton recalls. "But after I went to Stanford, I fell in love with everything from writing to being on camera."
During Peyton's second summer in the program, Akoto Ofari-Atta came to speak to the class. She gave the students an assignment: go and write an obituary on anyone. Peyton selected Tyler Steel, a young man who was shot and killed in Stockton. Peyton was ultimately selected to work on The Trace Project developing some of the content for SinceParkland.org. The goal for The Trace Project was to bring awareness to their generation of the results of gun violence. It was not a political piece, rather an eye-opening piece to the human tragedy and suffering of gun violence, especially its impact on their generation.
The SinceParkland.org project had teens writing obituaries on other teens who died due to gun violence. "As the generation that is inheriting these issues, it was important to find out what is really going on," Peyton shared. The 200 students selected to work on more than 1,200 obituaries of young people who died due to gun violence, had to sign confidentiality waivers as the project was sequestered until the broad release in February of this year.
"The overall experience was multi-faceted. I got to witness myself becoming a journalist (and getting paid for it)," Peyton recalls. "But a journalist not just for myself, but for the kids that died in gun violence. I was not just getting my voice out there, but I was able to give voice to others. Emotionally it was extremely hard to write, but these are stories that need to be told and heard."
Peyton mused about one of her St. Francis retreat experiences. The school year theme was "Being a Voice for the Voiceless." We were encouraged to explore our gifts and use them. "I feel like my gifts really fall in line with being a literal voice for the voiceless."
Peyton appeared on Good Day Sacramento on February 25, 2019 to share her experience on SinceParkland.org.
For more information about The Trace Project, visit sinceparkland.org.
