The VOX Investigates fall semester team has been working diligently toward creating our special coverage of HIV and AIDS — including a print publication, to be released in December for World AIDS Day.

Last Saturday, the team huddled into the VOX office despite the rainy weather to add finishing touches to all of the content. Many team members are working alongside mentors to edit audio, produce videos, and embed thought-provoking ideas into their story. As we come to the end of the semester, a few members on the VOX Investigates team shared our progress on Saturday:

My highlight is how cooperative everyone is – especially my mentor(s). With Sean I’m learning how to speak on public radio, and with Drew I’m learning how to create actual infographics. Last meeting I learned how to turn a graph into a GIF. Drew is making me more in depth. — Jason Crichton, Therrell High School

Today I learned how to export a video in HD. It’s more complicated than I thought. — Jahleelah Shaheed, Creekside High School

My mentor and I have been using the Adobe Photoshop and InDesign in order to construct a cover for the December issue. We started off the process by selecting photos from a recent photoshoot, only to alter this photo to the best of our liking. I do admit that the most challenging part of this session was selecting a final font. We wanted to the cover to not only be aesthetically pleasing, but to also capivate teengers into picking up this issue. — Sharah Hutson, Mays High School

A highlight of my day – shout out to Tess (my mentor); she’s the best. I know what I’ve learned: You think you just wrote this piece, it’s perfect, (and) Tess comes back like a warrior and chops it up. But I appreciate that about her because it makes it even better. I’ve learned writing properly. — Jada Jackson, North Atlanta High School

I’m the opposite of Jada. I write more like a research paper and … so I learned how to write more to audience. I also learned about secondary sourcing. — Kriti Lodh, Wheeler High School

We’ve been working on our audio piece with the information we got at the AIDS Walk. Doing voice overs is not as easy as I thought it would be because you have to put emotion into it. — Miranda Mullins, Duluth High School

Check back at voxatl.org/category/vox-investigates for our stories about HIV and AIDS and teens. And mark your calendar for Dec. 5 – 4 p.m. – at Carver High School’s theater for a teen-led dialogue and dance performance! Register for free online here.