Spotlight co-editor-in-chief Gianna Cusumano will graduate this May, leaving behind four years of dedicated involvement to the high school’s student newspaper. Throughout that time, she filled the roles of entertainment and features editor, and this year served as head of the website and social media. In each position, she embraced opportunities to express her passion for advocacy.
“Writing is such a big passion of mine, and giving people information and letting them make their own opinions is really important to me,” she said.
Cusumano first joined the Spotlight out of her general love for writing, which she’s always lived out through writing creative stories. Upon entering high school, she jumped at the chance to join a newspaper writing class in hopes of broadening her skills and finding a community of students with similar interests. Now, she feels that she’s gained all that and more, with fond memories ranging from former editor-in-chief Kishore Annambhotla spilling coffee grains across the publication lab to celebrating the editorial team’s first Best of SNO (School Newspapers Online) award.
“I definitely think the Spotlight has helped me grow as a person and as a writer. The aspect of getting to interview and talk to new people, especially people who have opinions and perspectives different from my own, has definitely made me more confident and outgoing,” Cusumano said. “It’s definitely made me realize I want to pursue journalism further, whether as a career or on my college’s paper.”
Cusumano is excited to pursue news writing further, even after leaving the Spotlight. While she majors in Politics and Public Policy at Lehigh University this coming fall, she will seek out ways to report current events on the side—hopefully through the college’s award winning student newspaper, The Brown and White. This will keep her plenty busy, as her studies are part of a pre-law program on a four-plus-one track, allowing her to earn both her bachelors and masters degrees by 2030.
Gianna is no stranger to hard work, though, as she’s been deeply involved in various activities throughout high school. Her greatest commitment, other than the Spotlight, has been participation in the Southern Lehigh swim team. She’s been part of one swim team or another since age eight, and finished out this year as a team captain. Looking back, she has fond memories from all four years with the group.
“It was really special when I was a freshman. I was swimming in one of our meets and I got a [personal record], and my whole team was beside the lane cheering me on,” she said. “It was really cool to get to celebrate that accomplishment with my team.”
Gianna is also a member of the high school’s National Honor Society and Athletic Leadership Council. Additionally, Cusumano took on the leadership role of co-president of Habitat for Humanity this year, a platform from which she was able to help address housing inequality in the area.
That issue has always been important to her, so much so that she confronted it in an article—one of her favorites among all those she’s written for the Spotlight. She was excited to cover such an impactful topic for her community, as well as explore reporting through different media types as she invited kids to illustrate their concepts of “home.” The piece she wrote was recognized by the National School Press Association’s Fred Ross Systemic Change Journalism Competition, earning it republication in local newspaper, The Morning Call.
“I was really excited to write about current events and inform people on things going on in the world,” she said. “It was really cool to learn more about my community and what was happening around it.”
Now, as she moves on from high school, Cusumano looks forward to a future in public policy, where she can employ skills gained from journalism for her community’s benefit.
“I definitely hope I still have that passion for advocacy, working on things I believe in,” she said. “I also really hope my love for writing stays with me, whether that be with journalism or some other form.”
