1st Place, Human Interest Feature
2022-23, Division 2, News Writing
By Delaney Cram
Occidentalist
Traverse City West Senior HS
School is far from the only thing on students’ schedules every day, from practices to clubs to jobs taking up afternoons and weekends. But for freshman Autumn Cram, time is devoted almost entirely to the kitchen.
The oven chirps whilst the mixer buzzes like a dentist’s tools. The television is a dull noise amidst the cacophony, a flicker of light catching on bowls, spoons and baking pans. Three types of cookies sit in rows across the countertop, still warm and sticking to the paper beneath them. Cram moves from one surface to the next, mixing flour, rolling out dough and preparing tupperware containers for her treats.
“Cooking and baking are a passion of mine because they allow me to express my creativity and imagination in a tangible way,” Cram said. “I also love being able to share my creations with others and see the joy that it brings to them.”
Cram loves the challenge that baking presents, the daunting task of making something so complex taste and look so good.
“My favorite thing to bake is cakes that take a lot of assembly,” Cram said. “I like to put in all the layers together.”
Cram has been cooking and baking as a hobby since 2021, but she has only recently begun to profit off of it, selling her food to raise money for the 2024 spring break trip to Italy.
“I’ve always wanted to sell my baked goods and stuff and this way I have something that can jumpstart it,” Cram said. “I’ve sold a few things, mostly just different types of cookies. [And] I made macarons once.”
The annual spring break trips are led by English teacher Aimee Cole, who will be taking some Honors level or AP English students to Europe this year after not having the trip open since 2014.
“Students in AP Language courses spend a great deal of time with non fiction texts, so I thought it would be interesting to expose them to [world] capitals with an amazing combination of literature and history that they could tie to the history they have studied in AP World History and the literature they will be studying in AP Literature,” Cole said.
Cram hopes to expand her horizons by traveling to Italy.
“I love learning different languages and traveling and I’ve always wanted to travel Europe, so this is like a start,” Cram said. “I just want to travel the whole world, and learn languages. I just like all of the architecture aspects and the history [in Italy].”
Opportunities to travel and experience different cultures are a treasured advantage among students, providing them with a broader sense of understanding of the world around them, making these spring break trips so important to the student body.
“When students go beyond the classroom, it brings education to life in a way a textbook cannot, and it opens a world of possibilities with new potential,” Cole said. “I hope students come away inspired by other cultures. I am excited to see them come home with
a newfound appreciation for others and a newfound independence that makes them feel like they can do absolutely anything.”
Cram’s method of fundraising is slightly unusual to the average student. Most of the expectant travelers participate in fundraising opportunities found by Cole and other volunteering adults, such as plant or wreath sales through Pleasanton Greenhouses or donation-based car washes. But, Cram has
already had some success in fundraising, in spite of her trip still being over a year away.
“I purchased twelve macaroons and they were delicious,” freshman Adeline Mulder said.
“I think it’s really resourceful that she took a hobby of her’s and turned it into something that she can raise money for.”
And for Cram, baking is more than just a hobby. She plans to make it her career.
“I have thought about a few different [culinary] schools,” Cram said. “There is the French Culinary Institute in New York City, which would be nice and then obviously there’s culinary institutes in France which one day I might want to go to. I don’t know if I’d want to go right out of high school, but eventually I’d want to go to a culinary institute in France or New York City.”
The trip to Italy, and any other spring break trips offered by the school, are exciting, once- in-a-lifetime opportunities, but they are also expensive. That’s why it is so important for Cram to get her fundraising done as early as possible.
“I am excited that Autumn is getting started raising money for her trip,” Cole said. “It feels like a long way off now, but it comes up more quickly than you think. Preparing now will help her have an amazing trip later.”
To purchase some of Cram’s baked goods, she can be messaged on Instagram @AutumnCram or emailed at cramaut39@tcapsstudent.net or autumnbaycram@gmail.com.
“I make a variety of things,” Cram said. “Cupcakes, pies, donuts, bread. Anything that can be baked, I can make.”
NW-13. Human Interest Feature
Human interest features appeal to the emotions of the reader with inspiration, motivation, pathos or humor and often make effective use of quotes. Enter descriptive, personal experience or accomplishment, or humor in this category. These are generally shorter stories. Submit a PDF of the print page(s) on which the story was published or the URL to the story on an online news site.
JUDGING CRITERIA
- Lead captures attention, arouses curiosity
- Emphasizes new element, fresh angle
- Colorful, lively presentation; effective form/style
- Reflects adequate research, sound interviewing techniques
- Avoids summaries of published materials
- Effective use of facts/quotes
- Interesting; appeals to the emotions
- Proper diction/grammar