KENTWOOD, Mich. — For most high school students, classes are just stepping stones to an everlasting educational journey. For one student at East Kentwood High School, her class is setting her up for something much bigger: a future on national news.
Nuha Hussein is a senior at East Kentwood High who discovered their passion for journalism in just one class.
“Storytelling is just really beautiful,” Hussein explains. “Knowing the different people that are out there, the different stories that are out there, it's... just beautiful.”
As a member of the school’s news network, coined “Falcon News Network,” Hussein has been able to get their feet wet in news reporting.
“We just tell people’s stories. We broadcast it around our school,” Nuha explained.
It wasn’t long before Nuha’s teacher, Preston Donakowski, recognized her potential.
“One of the things you really notice with her is the desire to go like, above and beyond what I can offer,” Donakowski said.
Even going as far as answering questions that Donakowski can't answer.
“At this point, she’s teaching me how to do all this stuff," explained Donakowski.
That's when Donakowski saw an opportunity that Nuha couldn't pass.
“My teacher got offered a summer camp paper, and he gave it to me. He's like, Hey, you're interested in this?" Said Hussein.
Known as the PBS NewsHour the opportunity brought Nuha to Washington, D.C. for over a week.
With fellow student-journalists, they set out to do one thing; tell people's stories.
"We did a story on an island off of Virginia called Tanger Island,” explained Hussein.
After making air, it affirmed Nuha's love for storytelling.
"It was uhm... Shocking. I'm just very thankful," Hussein added. For Mr. Donakowski, he couldn't be happier.
"That's what we call payday. Like, when you see students succeeding that much, and seeing them grow into themselves," explained Donakowski.
As Nuha crosses the graduation stage this year, she's got more work to do for PBS. Nuha now serves on the 2024 Student Advisory Board for PBS. Weighing input on national stories for for the broadcasting company.
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