As a sophomore in 2022, new-found East Side News journalist Daniella Torres didn’t know the first thing about journalistic writing. To her, this was going to be a fun hobby; it wouldn’t be one of her main focuses when it came to extracurricular activities. Fast forward a year and a half, Daniella was named editor-in-chief for the 2024-25 school year.
Torres has been an integral part of many different programs at Plainfield East, including editor-in-chief of East Side News, co-captain of the speech team, an officer for National Honors Society, and a part of theater and choir at PEHS.
“I really like the fact that everyone is curious,” said Torres. “Everyone is able to do something, with journalism we’re always looking for a new story I feel, which is really nice. Even things like choir, we always are looking for opportunities to sing at random places, which is really cool.”
Torres’ theater career was highlighted by shows like “You Can’t Take it With You”, “Shrek: The Musical,” and most recently, “Mamma-Mia.”
“Freshman year, little old me, I was really quiet,” said Torres, “And then the musical and the play really makes you lock-in and be like, ‘okay who cares what other people think’, especially the musical has definitely pushed me outside of what I thought I could do.”
Torres then joined one of the most outgoing activities Plainfield East has to offer, the speech team. She most often competed in the dramatic duet acting category with her co-captain Stella Abarca, placing first five times this past season.
“When they were like, ‘you guys will be captains,’ [Abarca and I] decided we’re going to lock in and make speech team bigger and ten times better,” said Torres. “It taught me leadership, how to encourage other people, and inspire other people to join. And then also just competing.”
Leadership is one of the four pillars of National Honors Society (NHS), which Torres became an officer for her senior year. Like theater and speech, NHS taught Torres skills she’ll be able to use in what’s to come in later years.
“Specifically for NHS, mostly organization,” said Torres. “Being organized and also working with a group.”
Torres applied all of these skills in order to grow East Side News past any of the staff’s expectations. The 2024-25 edition of East Side News saw the popularity of both stories and Bengal Broadcast soar.
“Now I feel like East Side News is more known. It’s kind of like cool now because of the morning show and promoting more the issues,” said Torres. “It’s definitely evolved for the better.”
The two-time IHSA review writing state qualifier will be attending Loyola University this fall to pursue the biomedical engineering track. She’ll continue to use what she’s learned from journalism and potentially pursue freelance journalism in her free time.
“The biggest thing is you cannot be afraid to reach out. It is scary at first, but it really is just sending an email. At least you’re hiding behind an email screen if they say no,” said Torres, “Being able to reach out and ask and advocate for yourself is the most important skill you can have, not only for journalism, but in life.”
