Humans of Reno: A Student Journalist Journeys Toward Public Radio

by Stephanie Serrano

Stephanie Serrano interviews Reno-based tattoo artist Albert Rivas for KUNR, an NPR affiliate in Reno, Nevada. Photo by Vanessa Vancour

‘I Wanna Be On TV’

Diane Sawyer was my aspiration. Every time I watched her on TV as a young girl all I could think about was how fearless she was and how much I wanted to take her seat in the reporting chair.

“What happened? What went wrong? Did I get hit, did I do something wrong. I kept thinking it was my fault,” Guzman said.

My first interview was in 2014 with Stephanie Guzman a young girl who within five minutes of our interview took me back to the time when she was only 15 years old and described the moment she had a miscarriage.

Guzman had her first child at the age of 17 after her first miscarriage. She finished high school and graduated from Hug High School. Photo by Stephanie Serrano

A First Interview

I instantly knew how special my career would be from this very moment. A stranger, who only agreed to meet me, trusted me with their story and that feeling was extremely rewarding.

I found my niche. It wasn’t daily news, it wasn’t TV broadcast. It was storytelling. I was overcome with narrative obsession.

I then met three very important people, who weren’t on TV, but who truly became my inspirations.

Above an audio story Serrano did for the Next Generation NPR bootcamp at the Reynolds School of Journalism.

Midnight Caller

It was the last semester of my sophomore year. I was finally going to be an upperclassmen and I was ready to enjoy summer but the semester wasn’t over just yet.

“You need to apply to this man, you can’t let this go,” Paul Mitchell said.

Mitchell was the first journalism professor to make a lasting impression on me. He consistently pushed me over the edge and dropped me into an endless ocean to swim.

To this day, I have crowned myself as the queen of last minute situations. I guess you can say I’m really good at being under pressure. What Mitchell was talking about was applying for the Reynolds School of Journalism’s annual NPR boot camp: a weeklong opportunity to produce a multimedia radio story.

I was running around the Reynolds School of Journalism until midnight the day before applications were due. Before I could submit my application, I needed someone to review it so I called Mitchell right then and there.

Thankfully, my journalism program revolved in an environment where professors would give you their cellphone number for situations like these.

Stephanie Serrano interviews Alondra Mora and Yaqi Ramirez for her NPR bootcamp project. “It was the most fun when I was able to walk around their high school with them and experience their daily environment. Photo by Nico Colombant

First Generation: Two Latinas On Their Way to a Four-Year University

Chicken Sh*t

I was accepted and I will always thank Mitchell for editing my application and making sure I didn’t miss it.

I remember reading the email and instantly calling my mother to tell her the great news. My body went limp in disbelief.

It wasn’t even a week and I was already in contact with my mentor for the camp.

Just my luck, I got paired up with a journalism reporter/professor from the Reynolds School. When I say ‘just my luck’, I truly mean it because I’m not a very lucky person but Nico Colombant changed the way I saw journalism, becoming the second person who inspired me. I pitched multiple stories to him but what we decided on was to report the story of two young first generation Latinas on their way to a four-year college.

Before participating in the boot camp I had no idea what radio storytelling was, let alone what NPR was. I come from a Hispanic home. My mornings weren’t filled with NPR morning news. They were filled with Mexican rock music and the Beatles.

A screengrab promoting Serrano’s story on the NPR bootcamp website.

Competitive Streaks

It didn’t take much time to understand that Colombant and I were both competitive people. We spent a whole week together reporting and getting to know each other. Colombant taught me everything it takes to create a multimedia audio story. He taught me how to collect every sound possible to create multiple sound scenes.

I appreciate Colombant so much because he wasn’t shy if he wanted a certain sound scene he would get it.

There was a moment when he wanted me to record the sound of backyard chickens clucking. I’ve been terrified of birds my entire life and Colombant sacrificed himself and got the sound for me.

I ended up getting recognized for that multimedia story and got my first Hearst Award. My story got ranked top 20 in the nation.

I knew I wanted to be a radio broadcast journalist.

Serrano has also worked for Noticiero Movil. Screengrab from a Reynolds Media Lab documentary series called “Swing County USA.”

It’s A Bundle

So far in my journalism career my inspirations consisted of two males. It wasn’t until my first semester of my junior year when I joined Vanessa Vancour’s class that my first real female journalist inspiration showed up.

She became the Mexican Diane Sawyer in my life.

Strong, independent, trustworthy, hardworking the list went on. Vancour started the first bilingual newsroom on campus, Noticiero Movil, a multimedia news outlet reporting in both Spanish and English.

This is where my journalism career flourished from narrative storytelling to bilingual storytelling. I became aware of the minimal Spanish media in our world. I’m fluent in both Spanish and English but I never thought to have a career where I would rely on my Spanish so heavily.

Noticiero Movil gave me the opportunity to practice reporting in Spanish, conducting interviews and writing in Spanish. I was in the first class to work with Noticiero Movil and it was so special to me. After that first semester I knew I didn’t just want to be a reporter, I wanted to be a bilingual reporter.

Noticiero has been up and running for a little over two years now and the growth is incredible. Now Noticiero has a close collaboration with Reno Public Radio creating a perfect news bundle.

Former RSJ student Jose Olivares and I were both emcees for a class mock caucus held at Mambos nightclub in Reno, NV. Photo by Davey Hibler

First Paid Bilingual Reporter

It was late November in 2016 when the opportunity I was patiently waiting for finally appeared. Reno Public Radio was looking for their first bilingual reporter for the upcoming spring semester …. wait it gets better, the position was paid.

I applied and within three days Michelle Billman offered me the position.

I became Reno Public Radio’s first paid bilingual reporter and their first student reporter who was strictly producing features.

After finishing my time in the spring, KUNR asked me to stay through the summer, then asked me to stay through the fall. I’ll be their first student reporter to work for them for one year … as well as airing their first story with Spanish soundbites.

I learned very quickly that the stories I was reporting made me a very versatile reporter. Reporting stories on sports, arts and culture, Latin culture and immigration. All with the ability to translate every feature into Spanish.

I also learned that I would never work at a news station if they didn’t support Spanish/English reporting. I want to communicate and share stories that wil touch two communities not just one.

So here I am, I’m not sitting on an anchor chair but as long as I have my mic and headphones that’s all I need.

Writing and Reporting by Stephanie Serrano for the Reynolds Media Lab