While thousands of journalists from around the world descended on Chicago to cover the Democratic National Convention last week, high schooler Arunima Chaudhary was able to cover the biggest story in the country less than a mile from where she goes to school.
Chaudhary is a rising senior at Chicago’s Whitney M. Young Magnet School and the editor-in-chief of its student newspaper, the Beacon.
She covered the convention for her schoolmates. She said many of them “aren’t very interested in politics or voting,” but Chaudhary hoped that by “talking to well-known representatives and celebrities [at the convention] I could inspire high school students to see the importance of civil participation.”
Chaudhary has worked for the Beacon since eighth grade as part of the high school’s junior high program. She said she was inspired to get into journalism by the power reporters have to bring about greater political transparency, and the power they have to elevate the stories of people from all walks of life.
The convention gave her a taste of that power.
On the last night of the DNC, Chaudhary spoke to a pro-Palestinian protester outside the United Center after Vice President Kamala Harris delivered her final remarks.
Chaudhary said despite a medical emergency, the woman waited outside the United Center for hours just because “she wanted to be able to stand up for what she believes in.”
Chaudhary was moved by that.
“Being able to talk to these people showed me that everyone has a story that should be shared.”
Chaudhary doesn’t have her own TikTok account, but she used the social media platform together with her crew at the Beacon to broadcast the convention.
They filmed a variety of videos. One was a compilation of DNC attendees wearing pink outfits citing the infamous “On Wednesdays, we wear pink” line from the movie “Mean Girls.”
Another featured a video of Chaudhary at a press event asking Pete Buttigieg, the U.S. Secretary of Transportation, what his idea of patriotism is.
Chaudhary said his sophisticated, two-and-a-half-minute answer made her feel seen and heard.
“It meant so much to me that these really big people like Pete Buttigieg took the time out of their day to answer my questions,” because it showed Chaudhary that they value young people like her.
She said politicians were even more excited to speak “when they learned they were answering questions from a high school student at a high school newspaper.”
U.S. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg points to his husband during the Illinois Presidential Delegation’s breakfast at the Royal Sonesta Chicago Downtown in the Loop last Wednesday, the third day of the Democratic National Convention. Buttigieg’s answer to student journalist Arunima Chaudhary “meant so much” to her.
The teen was so amped up by the energy at the convention and the adrenaline of covering a massive political event with a global audience that she called her parents every two hours to say, “Oh, my God, I just met someone huge. I just talked to this actor, or this TikTok of ours just got another 1,000 views.”
After the first day of the convention, she returned around 1 a.m. to her Hyde Park home and told her dad: “That was the biggest day I’ve ever had in my entire life.”
Though the convention may be over, Chaudhary’s work isn’t done. The Beacon staff was set to reconvene on the first day of school on Monday to piece together the DNC-related stories they will publish in their first print issue this fall.
Anna Savchenko is a reporter for WBEZ.