‘Passionate, bubbly and very focused:’ Elena Paces-Wiles brings energy to journalism
By Sadie Irby, Riverside High School
Passionate. Dedicated. Relentless. Caffeinated. Avid. Those are all words that peers, friends and adviser of 2024 High School Journalist of the Year Elena Paces-Wiles used to describe her.
The statewide award was given by NCSMA but it’s a sentiment echoed by her classmates and peers. Rising junior and member of Riverside’s High school newspaper, Nico Jordan mentions Paces-Wiles leading the class answering any questions and offering extra support during times when the faculty adviser was absent.
“She helped me on a lot of articles I was working on when I needed help,” Jordan said.
The winner of NC Journalist of the Year is selected from graduating high school seniors with at least a 3.0 unweighted GPA within the state of North Carolina. Each year the winner is rewarded a $3,000 scholarship.
Paces-Wiles originally joined the school’s newspaper her sophomore year because she had read some stories online as a freshman. She continued being on the school’s newspaper through the remainder of high school. She also had a leadership role at NCSMA in the 2024 summer institute as Vice President of News.
“I stayed on ‘The Hook’ (Riverside High School’s newspaper) because I loved the freedom to write about topics that interested us,” she said through a text message. “ (I liked) the opportunity to connect with our school community and how our adviser ran the class.”
Paces-Wiles was shocked when one of her friends found the announcement about her winning Journalist of the Year before she was aware she won.
“I actually heard from a friend who saw the Instagram announcement before I heard officially from my adviser,” Paces-Wiles said. “I was pleasantly surprised.”
Alternates for Journalist of the Year are Courtney Weston of West Brunswick High in Shallotte, Charlize Andrews of Green Level High in Cary and Reagan Bell of East Mecklenburg High in Charlotte. The three runners-up were given a $1,000 scholarship. Not only are the individual winners granted a money prize, but the Journalist of the Year’s home journalism program will receive $500 and the alternates’ programs will each receive $250.
Mia Khatib, former reporter at The Triangle Tribune and first-time instructor for The Rush, did her report for America volunteer project with Riverside High School’s newspaper, The Pirates’ Hook, which is where Paces-Wiles was co-editor in chief during the 2023-2024 school year.
Khatib said she was impressed by the wide range of skill and talents the senior editors at Riverside demonstrated.
“I was very blown away by how diversified they were;” Khatib said. “They knew how to do so many different things in the newsroom operations, from formatting and picking photos to coming up with creative ideas for the superlatives and the senior edition.”
Khatib has a fond first impression of Paces-Wiles.
“She seemed very enthusiastic, passionate, bubbly and very focused to me,” Khatib said. “She can come off a little chaotic jumping around the room and doing so many different things but it just shows she’s great at multitasking.”
Similar to Khatib’s first impression of Paces-Wiles, Bryan Christopher, faculty adviser at The Pirates’ Hook, immediately recognized her enthusiasm and eagerness when first meeting her.
“I just remember her being sort of voracious when it came to story selection,” Christopher said.“And then finding sources; coming up with interview questions, she just attacked every step of it.” He has been the adviser since the fall of 2015 and has worked at Riverside High since 2007.
Paces-Wiles recently committed to Tulane University where she plans to major in neuroscience and psychology. Outside of her high school career in journalism, Paces-Wiles also ran track and cross country and was the head of her high school’s environmental club.
“Although I decided not to major in journalism, the skills I acquired will stay with me no matter what I do,” she said. “Our investigative projects taught me how to research and write, which I plan to do in college.”
Editor’s note: Elena Paces-Wiles was out of the country with limited cell and internet service while on and until deadline. Additionally, the author and Paces-Wiles are former colleagues at the The Hook.