Adviser Update Adviser Update Winter 2018 | Page 39

39 Two days earlier, Lukaszewicz was with his group at the Supreme Court when he bumped into government lawyers who had just presented oral arguments in a trademark dispute involving “The Slants,” a rock band seeking to trademark a name some call a racial slur. The U.S. Patent and Trademark office had refused the request, citing the 1946 Lanham Act that prevents trademarks for names that “disparage” people or “bring them into contempt or disrepute” (the group eventually won its case). Lukaszewicz interviewed the lawyers and also walked into and covered a press-only news conference. “I told him that was an excellent attribute of a journalist,” said Aragon teacher and trip chaperone Will Colglazier. “You don’t ask for permission—you just ask your questions.” Following the inauguration, Lukaszewicz produced several stories, including a look back at Trump’s first 100 days and a nuanced story on a proposed California law that would allow schools to search a student’s cell phone without a warrant. Covering the inauguration “changed the way I approach political articles now,” he said. “I understand it is crucial to reach out and find those marginalized [conservative] perspectives in our community.” Aragon Outlook feature writer and photographer Shweta Ashokraj, 17, came to a similar realization. “I definitely don’t agree with a lot of what [the protesters] had to say, but I’m definitely more open-minded,” she said. As a photographer, Ashokraj believes she had a special duty to capture images that could tell the truth about a day that divided so many Americans: “I think that moments like these really have to be captured because you see social media twisting stories to get a lot more views.” “It’s inevitable that you and another person will have different ideologies—it’s America,” she added. “You have to get on with your day.” The Wingspan:— “Throw your own opinion out the door” For Reagan Gunter, a photographer for The Wingspan in southwest Missouri, the need for balance begins with her name, but it doesn’t end there. Gunter’s high school is in Christian County, about 80 miles east of what could be called the Four Corners of Trump country—the intersection of Arkansas, Kansas, Missouri and Oklahoma, states that each went for Trump by double digits in the presidential election. Named for the former president, Gunter, 19, leans blue. But she and other Wingspan staffers pride themselves on presenting both sides. In stories and graphics produced during and after the inauguration, there’s less emphasis on opinion writing and more on news, including quotes from Trump supporters who