Short Wave - The Jackson Water Crisis Through A Student Journalist's Eyes

Episode Date: July 29, 2023

In this special episode, we hear from the high school grand prize winner of NPR's Student Podcast Challenge: Georgianna McKenny. A rising senior at the Mississippi School for Mathematics and Science, the 17-year-old rings an alarm on the water crisis in Jackson, through the lens of young people. Emily, who was one of the judges of this year's contest, talks to Georgianna about her winning podcast and their shared love for storytelling. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy

You're listening to Shortwave from NPR. Hey, Shortwavers. I'm LeQuong here with the winner of NPR's student podcast challenge in the high school category. There were over 3,000 entries from 48 states, D.C. and Puerto Rico. And the one that rose to the top in the high school category was written and produced by Georgiana McKinney, who is here with me today. Hi, Georgiana. How are you? I'm great. Awesome. Awesome. Well, it's nice to meet you. this is the first audio story you've ever made and it won.

How has it impacted your life? I've been such an amazing change. And I never thought I could do this when I came in. I never thought that this would happen. So most of the congratulations came from family and a son through my mom and dad. So they just tell me. And some people from my former school saw me like congratulations. This is been amazing.

The summer's been great. I'm so happy because it's amazing. Yeah. Well, so, you know, full disclosure, I was a judge for the contest. And what's cool about it is I understand it was created as a homework assignment for Thomas Easterling's class at Mississippi School for Mathematics and Science, where you go to school. And Georgiana, you chose to cover the Jackson, Mississippi water crisis. How did you land on that decision? When I chose the water crisis, I didn't actually ever start with the water crisis. I started with people from my town. And my cousin who lives in Jackson and goes to a school in Jackson helped me with it because I chose my topic specifically on the education and how that impacts children. Because in the media, I usually wouldn't hear about how children are impacted by it. So through her, I was able to get information on exactly how it's like, well, a day in my life of going to school in the Jackson water crisis and how it impacts education, how I think.

of students, how they may act, how she may act. And then I also met in that miniscary who lives in Jackson, who helped provide information towards my podcast. And they told me their side of it. And so I got to see it from the side from the ministry and side from the student. Today on the show, a glimpse into the Jackson, Mississippi water crisis through the eyes of a student journalist. And how Georgiana McKinney hopes her piece brings about justice for her community.

You're listening to Shortwave from NPR. Okay, Georgiana, let's listen to your winning submission about the water crisis in Jackson, Mississippi. Mariah starts her day by going to the bathrooms, check if her water pressure is working before getting ready for school. As she turns to handle, no water comes from the faucet. And so she looks under her scene for a water bottle to find out that there are none left. She size, picks up her phone, and dials to high school. Hello, the counselor is speaking. Hey, I'm calling to tell you that my water pressure.

has been low their entire weekend and hygiene has been hard. I ain't going to be able to come to school today. Hi, I'm Georgiana McKinney and this is the real Mississippi. A student podcast written, recorded, and produced by students at the Mississippi School for mathematics and science. Jackson, Mississippi has been dealing with water issues for a long period of time, but the issue has recently gotten worse. In the summer of 2022, the city shut down because of the dilapidated infrastructure, the main pipes at the OB Curtis and the water. fire pumps at J.H. Farrell Station were already severely damaged, but after flooding, the pipes collapsed. As a result, the city's wire towers were left dry, leaving the city without enough

water for their homes, schools, and businesses. The news covered how businesses had to shut down and how the workers were affected, however, they seem to have forgotten about the youth of Jackson during this water crisis. Children are missing instructional time in the classroom, and it's not talked about enough in the media. On January 6, 23, Jackson Public. schools had to go virtual after reports of little to no wire pressure were reported in all 33 schools. They returned back to classes on January 9th and this marked the fifth day of school that they have lost because of the water crisis. Instructional time is the foundation of everything that happens at a school and teachers have to protect that instructional time. Otherwise,

they won't help their students meet benchmarks that are relevant to the standards that get tested for at the end of each school year. typical school, if you lose a week teaching to a standard because there have been water crises or tornadoes or illnesses or what have you, it really affects everything that takes place for the rest of the semester. You have to decide, well, where will I cut a corner? What will I do in order to help students meet the standards that are going to be tested on at the end of the year so that students can progress towards mastery of subjects that will be important to them even later in their educational careers. Even when they are in school, they have to worry about factors such as the bathroom

and a lunch. Something so simple as using the bathroom has become difficult because of how low the wire pressure is. The school must bring in porta-potties to adjust this crisis, but there are times when they can miss up as well. Using the bathroom can take an extremely long time. As of right now, we barely have water, so we have to use porta-potties. And sometimes there is only one toilet available. So going to the bathroom can take a very long time. I mean, sometimes it takes up half the class period, and sometimes it takes up half the day. We would close down most of the restrooms and limit the number of restrooms that we use to about two for each building.

And each restroom has about three to four to five stops. in each one of them. And the reason we do that is because it's hard to maintenance. Students can become frustrated because of the bathroom situation, and that can affect how they act in class. Lunch is going dramatically downhill ever since the water crisis worsened back in the summer of 2022. In South Jackson, the cafeterias have limited their options

on what they can serve to the students because of the water crisis. The food was never that good to begin with, we had options. They barely have salads. They barely have good fruits. And I feel like the food they serve us now is still the same. Like, it's just pizza or hot dogs throughout the wheat. I'd be irritated and still hungry. In North Jackson, depending on how the wire crisis is that day, the school can either serve hot lunches or cold lunches. Sometimes they have enough water to cook a full hot meal, and then other times they do not. Let's assume that today that there is enough water to cook the hot meals and they will do that. A second scenario day is when there is low water pressure.

And so on those days, the cafeteria staff might prepare sack lunches. In cases where the water crisis is worse in certain schools, they may have to relocate to another school for the day. Also, there were times where we had to host another school where there were. air water pressure. And so there were times when some other high schools relocated a grade level to our campus, which also made for extra, you know, adjustment to classrooms. Teachers weren't able to be in the classrooms. They're usually assigned to students weren't, didn't have, wasn't reporting to the area where they're assigned to. So it just made for a very, um, a very unpredictable, um, circumstance. And so has the movement between in-person and virtual learning.

Virtual education does not compare to in-person learning, and there are usually issues with it. Teachers have reported learning laws in the classroom because not every student respond well as to virtual learning. There are students in-structure and stability, and having to constantly switch between in-person and virtual learning is hurting them and coercering their mental health. Certainly more anxious, and that's from a staff perspective and a student perspective. Again, our population strives off a structure. So just the unpredictability, it does weigh on the staff and it does weigh on the scholars. And again, not only is it a school thing, but it's a home thing. The home thing in terms of going home, making sure that you're younger, you know,

the parent is not home. So you're making sure that your younger siblings don't drink the water. you're making, you know, if there's water to be boiled, you have meals that you have to prepare at home. You have elderly siblings or elderly parents or grandparents or family members that depend on water for their different needs. So yes, mentally it is very stressful and very taxing on top of the pressure to succeed in academics. I am Georgiana McKinney, and this is real Mississippi. I would like to give a special thing. One of the reasons we chose this piece, Georgiana, honestly,

is because your sources are being so real with you. Everyone is being so honest, and you get the sense they're not holding back. And when you think about the issue of the water crisis, how did you get people to open up? Well, I don't think it was that hard to get people to talk because I have family members, and they would feel more comfortable with me reporting on it

because they know me as a whole. So I don't think they felt that bad about reporting about it because I wasn't a stranger and coming in to ask them about it. But, I mean, it's been happening for a while. Maybe they felt there was something they need to be done. And people, if you ask them, they're willing to tell their stories. If you ask people, they're willing to tell their stories. That's the truth.

Yeah. And, you know, the water crisis in Jackson has been going on for a long time now since last summer. It's been almost a year. How do you hope this piece, like, changes things? I would hope that more people outside of Mississippi would learn about the podcast because it seems like it's only an issue that people in Mississippi know about or there's just not a lot of information outside of I hope

and maybe don't donate to the city of Jackson. And I mean on the whole, from the information I learned, I just hope something changes. Georgiana McKinney, thank you so much for coming on Shortwave and best of luck with your senior year of high school. Okay, thank you so much for inviting me. If you want to hear more entries from this year's student podcast challenge, including the winner of the middle school challenge, please visit npr.org slash student podcast challenge, 2023. Special thanks to the team running the challenge, Janet Ujong Lee, Steve Drummond, and the rest of NPR's education desk.

Shortwave is produced by Britt Hansen, Burley McCoy, and Carly Rubin. It's edited by managing producer Rebecca Ramirez. My co-host is Regina Barber. Beth Donovan is our senior director and Anya Grundman is our senior vice president of programming. I'm Emily Kwong. Thank you for listening and see you Monday for more shortwave.