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Miami Palmetto High School senior Janah Issa had an exciting summer. June 12 and 13, she had a short internship with CNN helping the cable news channel cover former President Donald Trump’s arraignment on federal charges.
“They needed people to write notes and to run the information,” she says. “CNN got the news first because of me and my classmates.”
Issa was one of the students who would run in and out to convey information about what was happening in the courtroom since federal courts do not allow cameras in the courtroom and the judge banned all electronics.
“We were the only ones inside and we were all reporting for CNN,” she says. “They had these notepads, and they would write information and they would give it to us. Sometimes we would be on the phone.”
She said it was exciting to hear CNN anchors talking about her and the other students in the news section and be featured in a news story.
Issa has been a member of the Palmetto TV Production class since her sophomore year. Her responsibilities include producing the broadcast, but she is also an anchor at times.
At some point, she came to realize that some students aren’t getting the full extent of the morning announcements.
“When teachers play it, some people get lost,” she says. “It has become a common issue.”
She came up with a solution.
“I started a project of closed captioning the video so all the people at my school can stay informed and actively participate at school,” she says.
She types up the script for each 10-minute video and expects to continue through the end of the year.
“Hopefully I’ll pass it on to an underclassman,” she says.
The videos include a briefing section about events that are coming up in the week ahead.
The morning announcements are a mix of live and recorded broadcasts, depending on the day of the week.
“Monday is the only day we don’t have a broadcast and we do a recording for Tuesday,” she says.
Issa is also very involved in Model United Nations. For the last couple of years, Issa has won the Most Improved Delegate Award from the Palmetto Model UN club, but in February, she won Outstanding Delegate of the Model UN Conference at Florida Atlantic University.
She also wants to attend more conferences. There are three that the club members usually attend, including one at Miami-Dade College.
“I like that Model UN helps you grow as a person,” she says.
Previously she only spoke a little at conferences. But then she became more comfortable, and she started speaking up. That lead to the Outstanding Delegate Award.
“It’s just very exciting,” she says.
Issa is a member of the National Honor Society, the community service organization, Interact, Students Working Against Tobacco (SWAT) and the Japanese Honor Society.
She plays lacrosse for Palmetto and is hoping to move up to the varsity team this year.
Outside of school, Issa volunteered at Zoo Miami for a year doing a variety of work.
“Every day was a different job,” she says. “Giraffe feedings, and bird feedings. Scanning tickets and bicycle rentals.”
She also volunteers at the Coral Reef Library. She reshelves books and assists the director on putting out flyers or other clerical work.
Issa plans to major in Communications because she wants to be a news anchor. She’s already been accepted to the University of Central Florida. She’s also applied to the University of Florida, Florida State, Northwestern and Yale.
Linda Rodriguez Bernfeld
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