2023 Rich Mahan Best Student Portfolio
Lukas Flippo / Yale University
2023 Rich Mahan Best Student Portfolio
8/10/2023 Cynthiana, Kentucky Journalist Kendall Staton covers the first day of school at the Harrison County Middle School on Thursday, August 10, 2023, for the Cynthiana Democrat in Cynthiana, KY. Staton is the 20-year-old Editor-in-Chief of the Cynthiana Democrat, originally from Russell, KY. She is a graduate of the University of Kentucky, and she wrote her first piece of journalism in February of 2022. Staton began her position at the Cynthiana Democrat in May of 2023 following the retirement of long-time editor Becky Barnes. On the first day of school, Kendall had to introduce herself to all of the principals as well as figure out her way around the hallways as she had never been in them before.
Lukas Flippo / Yale University
2023 Rich Mahan Best Student Portfolio
STORY: In February 2022, Kendall Staton wrote her first article as a junior at the University of Kentucky. Originally a class assignment, she published the piece about civic involvement in the student newspaper. After that, she applied for a full-time reporting position at a local newspaper, despite still being a full-time student with multiple jobs and little experience. When the hiring manager for the position called, Kendall shared a schedule she had mapped out to handle all the responsibilities. She didnt get the job, but she began freelancing for a newspaper in the same company. When she graduated in May 2023 at 19 years old, she was offered the editor-in-chief position at the Cynthiana Democrat by the same hiring manager. She took over the position from Becky Barnes, who had worked for the paper for 47 years. She oversees an editorial staff of her and Lee Kendall, a sports writer who was once a history teacher. Staton hopes to work at a big paper one day, but she is embracing the current challenge of steering a local paper into the future. Whats happening down the street is just as important as what is happening in New York, Staton said. Stuff happening down the street, we are going to be there. And we are the only people going to be there. If we dont cover it, no one else will." Caption: Journalist Kendall Staton covers the first day of school at Southside Elementary School on Thursday, August 10, 2023, for the Cynthiana Democrat in Cynthiana, KY. Staton is the 20-year-old Editor-in-Chief of the Cynthiana Democrat, originally from Russell, KY. She is a graduate of the University of Kentucky, and she wrote her first piece of journalism in February of 2022. Staton began her position at the Cynthiana Democrat in May of 2023 following the retirement of long-time editor Becky Barnes. On the first day of school, Kendall had to introduce herself to all of the principals as well as figure out her way around the hallways as she had never been in them before.
Lukas Flippo / Yale University
2023 Rich Mahan Best Student Portfolio
8/10/2023 Cynthiana, Kentucky Cynthiana Democrat Journalist Kendall Staton waits on a bench outside Harrison County High School for the first day of school to end Thursday, August 10, 2023, in Cynthiana, KY. Staton is the 20-year-old Editor-in-Chief of the Cynthiana Democrat, originally from Russell, KY. She is a graduate of the University of Kentucky, and she wrote her first piece of journalism in February of 2022. Staton began her position at the Cynthiana Democrat in May of 2023 following the retirement of long-time editor Becky Barnes.
Lukas Flippo / Yale University
2023 Rich Mahan Best Student Portfolio
8/10/2023 Cynthiana, Kentucky Journalist Kendall Staton interviews Harrison County Schools administrators while covering the first day of school on Thursday, August 10, 2023, for the Cynthiana Democrat in Cynthiana, KY. Staton is the 20-year-old Editor-in-Chief of the Cynthiana Democrat, originally from Russell, KY. She is a graduate of the University of Kentucky, and she wrote her first piece of journalism in February of 2022. Staton began her position at the Cynthiana Democrat in May of 2023 following the retirement of long-time editor Becky Barnes. On the first day of school, Kendall had to introduce herself to all of the principals as well as figure out her way around the hallways as she had never been in them before.
Lukas Flippo / Yale University
2023 Rich Mahan Best Student Portfolio
8/10/2023 Cynthiana, Kentucky Cynthiana Democrat Journalist Kendall Staton takes a nap before her third and final assignment of the day at the Cynthiana-Harrison County Library on Thursday, August 10, 2023, in Cynthiana, KY. Staton is the 20-year-old Editor-in-Chief of the Cynthiana Democrat, originally from Russell, KY. She is a graduate of the University of Kentucky, and she wrote her first piece of journalism in February of 2022. Staton began her position at the Cynthiana Democrat in May of 2023 following the retirement of long-time editor Becky Barnes.
Lukas Flippo / Yale University
2023 Rich Mahan Best Student Portfolio
8/15/2023 Cynthiana, Kentucky Cynthiana Democrat journalist Kendall Staton works to meet the 3 p.m. print deadline on Tuesday, August 15, 2023, in Cynthiana, KY. On this weeks deadline, layouts, which are made at a hub in Owensboro, KY, were late and had to undergo corrections, leaving Staton with no idea how many inches of news she would need until around 11 a.m. During the day, she transcribed interviews, proofed stories, and interviewed for and wrote a story about a tree falling in Free Veterans Park and displacing bees. Kendall Staton is the 20-year-old Editor-in-Chief of the Cynthiana Democrat, originally from Russell, KY. She is a graduate of the University of Kentucky, and she wrote her first piece of journalism in February of 2022. Staton began her position at the Cynthiana Democrat in May of 2023 following the retirement of long-time editor Becky Barnes.
Lukas Flippo / Yale University
2023 Rich Mahan Best Student Portfolio
8/15/2023 Cynthiana, Kentucky Cynthiana Democrat journalist Kendall Staton works to meet the 3 p.m. print deadline on Tuesday, August 15, 2023, in Cynthiana, KY. On this weeks deadline, layouts, which are made at a hub in Owensboro, KY, were late and had to undergo corrections, leaving Staton with no idea how many inches of news she would need until around 11 a.m. During the day, she transcribed interviews, proofed stories, and interviewed for and wrote a story about a tree falling in Free Veterans Park and displacing bees. Kendall Staton is the 20-year-old Editor-in-Chief of the Cynthiana Democrat, originally from Russell, KY. She is a graduate of the University of Kentucky, and she wrote her first piece of journalism in February of 2022. Staton began her position at the Cynthiana Democrat in May of 2023 following the retirement of long-time editor Becky Barnes.
Lukas Flippo / Yale University
2023 Rich Mahan Best Student Portfolio
8/10/2023 Cynthiana, Kentucky Cynthiana Democrat Journalist Kendall Staton leaves Harrison County High School after waiting for an hour for a meeting with administrators and council members about the site of the new high school building on Thursday, August 10, 2023, in Cynthiana, KY. No one showed up for the meeting. Staton is the 20-year-old Editor-in-Chief of the Cynthiana Democrat, originally from Russell, KY. She is a graduate of the University of Kentucky, and she wrote her first piece of journalism in February of 2022. Staton began her position at the Cynthiana Democrat in May of 2023 following the retirement of long-time editor Becky Barnes.
Lukas Flippo / Yale University
2023 Rich Mahan Best Student Portfolio
8/15/2023 Cynthiana, Kentucky Kendall Staton and her boyfriend Ethan Speer get lunch at Bianckes Restaurant after the Cynthiana Democrats 3 p.m. print deadline on Tuesday, August 15, 2023, in Cynthiana, KY. Kendall Staton is the 20-year-old Editor-in-Chief of the Cynthiana Democrat, originally from Russell, KY. She is a graduate of the University of Kentucky, and she wrote her first piece of journalism in February of 2022. Staton began her position at the Cynthiana Democrat in May of 2023 following the retirement of long-time editor Becky Barnes.
Lukas Flippo / Yale University
2023 Rich Mahan Best Student Portfolio
STORY: Antonios on the phone with his wife on the couch, laughing as she shows him pictures of a field of sunflowers back home. Juan is cooking chicken, vegetables, and tomatoes for tacos. Its lunchtime for Antonio Gonzales, Juan Gonzales, and Pedro Martinez, migrant farm workers who live in a bunkhouse on the Yazel farm in Berry, Kentucky. The house is vanguard to acres of tobacco. Inside, there is a kitchen with a dining table, a couch, and a pool table. Signs are posted on walls reading their rights and the rules their employers must abide by, as well as the responsibilities they have during their work here. Next, a bathroom with a toilet, sink, and shower. And one bedroom, where they each get their own piece partitioned off by curtains. Inside each curtain is a mini-bedroom: a bunk bed, a dresser. A fan on high points toward Antonios bed, a wooden chair covered in a towel holds his medications. Lunchtime is when Antonio, Pedro, and Juan speak with their families. While one person cooks, the other two retreat to WhatsApp video calls and text chats. Today, Antonio takes the couch, Pedro wanders outside to the barn, laying down and calling home while staring at the tobacco overhead. Tomorrow, Antonio cooks, Juan tells me as he shakes the vegetables on the pan, a piece flying out and landing on the white bandaging that stabilizes his wrist. Each of them work for their family back home - their minimum wage of $15 for 7 months supports their loved ones back in Mexico. Caption: Roberto Trinidad sorts tobacco Wednesday, June 21, 2023, at Clifford Farms in Sunrise, KY. Trinidad is a seasonal farm worker, living in the United States for the majority of the year working on tobacco farms in Kentucky.
Lukas Flippo / Yale University
2023 Rich Mahan Best Student Portfolio
Informational materials informing H2A migrant farm workers of their rights are posted on the wall of the living room Wednesday, July 26, at the Yazel Farm in Berry, KY.
Lukas Flippo / Yale University
2023 Rich Mahan Best Student Portfolio
From left to right: Juan Martinez, Antonio Martinez, and Pedro Gonzales eat tacos for lunch Thursday, July 27, 2023, at the Yazel Farm in Berry, KY. The men take turns cooking, with the other two using the time to call their families back home.
Lukas Flippo / Yale University
2023 Rich Mahan Best Student Portfolio
Antonio Martinez tops tobacco, which is the stage of the process where the flower is removed from the plant, on Thursday, July 20, 2023, at the Yazel Farm in Berry, KY. Antonio, Pedro Martinez, and Juan Gonzales each walk down the middle of a row, taking the flower away from the plant on their right and to their left. It takes around five minutes for to complete a single row.
Lukas Flippo / Yale University
2023 Rich Mahan Best Student Portfolio
Antonio Martinez writes down his hours of work Thursday, July 27, 2023, at the Yazel farm in Berry, KY. Although the hours per day shift according to weather and crop needs, ten hour work days are not uncommon.
Lukas Flippo / Yale University
2023 Rich Mahan Best Student Portfolio
Antonio Martinez feeds the cat outside his bunk house Thursday, July 27, 2023, at the Yazel farm in Berry, KY. The men have no name for the cat, but they care for it and its kittens.
Lukas Flippo / Yale University
2023 Rich Mahan Best Student Portfolio
Antonio Martinez (right) calls his wife back home in Mexico while Pedro Gonzales dumps his cooler's melted ice onto the porch during lunch Thursday, July 27, 2023, at the Yazel Farm in Berry, KY.
Lukas Flippo / Yale University
2023 Rich Mahan Best Student Portfolio
7/27/2023Berry, Kentucky Juan Martinez drives a truck to the field to house tobacco Thursday, July 27, 2023, at the Yazel farm in Berry, KY.
Lukas Flippo / Yale University
2023 Rich Mahan Best Student Portfolio
7/27/2023Berry, Kentucky Antonio Martinez carries a cooler into the barn after a thunderstorm halted their tobacco work Thursday, July 27, 2023, at the Yazel farm in Berry, KY.
Lukas Flippo / Yale University
2023 Rich Mahan Best Student Portfolio
Juan Martinez uses a metal stake to attach cut tobacco plants to attach to the piece of wood to transport to the barn for hanging Thursday, July 27, 2023, at the Yazel Farm in Berry, KY.
Lukas Flippo / Yale University
2023 Rich Mahan Best Student Portfolio
Levi Price, 6, (right) and Asher Moore, 5, (left) stand for a portrait after playing in mud Monday, June 19, 2023, in Berry, KY. Levi Price, 6, Dawson Price, 3, Asher Moore, 5, Ryleigh Preston, 2, and Axton Moore, 1, who played in the backyard while Ernie fed the chickens, were all watched by Brenna Price, who runs a babysitting business out of her home. Brennas husband, Ernie Price, works at the Kentucky Department of Transportation.
Lukas Flippo / Yale University
2023 Rich Mahan Best Student Portfolio
Storms are seen in the distance Wednesday, July 3, 2023, on Rocky Ford Road in Berry, KY.
Lukas Flippo / Yale University
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Tara Gray plays pool at Hillbillies Restaurant Friday, June 2, 2023, on Highway 27 in Kelat, KY. Hillbillies opened in the same building as a prior bar, named Drunken Monkey, once operated. Manager Diane Christenson brought the restaurant to life to follow her passion as a chef, but the restaurant also serves as a bar, with late hours of operation and pool tables. "I don't drink alcohol," Christenson said. "I guess that is kind of funny to open a bar when you don't like alcohol. I understand I need the alcohol to bring people to my food."
Lukas Flippo / Yale University
2023 Rich Mahan Best Student Portfolio
The Conley family, including son Riley Conley (center), daughter Olivia Conley (right), wife Rachel Ann Conley, and nephew Lincoln Conley (far right), watch Scott County Sheriffs Deputy Caleb Conleys coffin get loaded into a hearse June 1, 2023, in Georgetown, KY, to depart for the burial service at Battle Grove Cemetery in Cynthiana, Kentucky. Thousands of people from across Kentucky, including many police departments and first responders, attended the funeral and graveside burial service for fallen Scott County Sheriffs Deputy Caleb Conley on June 1, 2023, in Georgetown and Cynthiana, KY. The funeral, which was held at the Scott County High School gymnasium in Georgetown, preceded a procession to the Battle Grove cemetery in Cynthiana where a burial service was held. Conley was killed while conducting a routine traffic stop May 22, 2023, on I-75 outside Georgetown.
Lukas Flippo / Yale University
2023 Rich Mahan Best Student Portfolio
Mark Shelton sits in the office of Randys Odd Jobs Recycling Center in Cynthiana, Kentucky, on Tuesday, May 30, 2023. Shelton worked at the center for years before retiring, and he still comes during the day to stay active and in the know. The center was founded after the floods of 1997, when owner Randy Northcutt saw an opportunity with the property to help with the massive cleanup efforts by amassing and transferring scrap metal and other recyclable goods.
Lukas Flippo / Yale University
2023 Rich Mahan Best Student Portfolio
Calvin Neal (center) runs in an agility drill Monday, June 12, 2023, in Cynthiana, KY. The Harrison County High School Thorobreds football team practices at the Harrison County High School football facility on Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday, with a dead period between June 21st and July 10th. The practices, which are voluntary, begin at 6 P.M. and conclude at 8 P.M. The first 30 minutes of practice are dedicated to weight training in the weight room, and the next 30 minutes is dedicated to various agility and strength drills. The practice concludes with offensive drives down the field against a live defense.
Lukas Flippo / Yale University
2023 Rich Mahan Best Student Portfolio
Larry Nickerson sits for a portrait Tuesday, July 4, 2023, in his apartment on Elm Street in Cynthiana, KY. Nickerson has lived on Elm Street for most of his life, and he enjoys the peace and quiet there. Currently, he is waiting for his girlfriend of five years to be released from prison. He plans to provide her a drug-free and safe home. The first thing I am going to do when she gets out is buy a new bed suit.
Lukas Flippo / Yale University
2023 Rich Mahan Best Student Portfolio
Tommy Fryman checks a garbage can outside Family Dollar for empty aluminum cans Saturday, July 8, 2023, in Cynthiana, KY. Fryman collects thrown-out metal to sell for scrap at a local business.
Lukas Flippo / Yale University
2023 Rich Mahan Best Student Portfolio
Megan Muth shops for groceries with her daughter Annalee Muth on Wednesday, July 5, 2023, at the Save-A-Lot grocery store in Cynthiana, KY.
Lukas Flippo / Yale University
2023 Rich Mahan Best Student Portfolio
Elizabeth Aud works the ticket booth on Thursday, July 20, 2023, at the Harrison County Fair in Cynthiana, KY. Aud is from Owensboro, KY, and she has worked and traveled with Caseys Rides, which is based in Utica, KY, for 21 years. While she works in the ticket booth, she cares for her bosss dog, Marley.
Lukas Flippo / Yale University
2023 Rich Mahan Best Student Portfolio
Cash Smith (center) watches the competition Saturday, June 10, 2023, at the Houdini Diesel Horsepower Showdown at the Harrison County Fairgrounds in Cynthiana, KY. The event brought competitors from across Kentucky to compete in both tractor and truck pulling contests. The trucks and tractors pull the sled for as far as they can, with the winner carrying it the furthest distance.
Lukas Flippo / Yale University
2023 Rich Mahan Best Student Portfolio
Wilson Barnes, 15, shears a sheep Thursday, June 22, 2023, in Sunrise, KY. Wilson was preparing to show sheep at the Pendleton County Fair later Thursday evening.
Lukas Flippo / Yale University
2023 Rich Mahan Best Student Portfolio
Sally, a sheep, walks around a former auditorium room Thursday, June 22, 2023, in the closed Sunrise school in Sunrise, KY. Greg Barnes mother purchased the school after its closing in the 1950s, and Barnes uses the building as storage and a farm-work area, working constantly to maintain it for historys sake.
Lukas Flippo / Yale University
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The Harder Family, including father Bill Harder, waits for flights carrying children Johann, Edith, Lisa, Lily, Elsie, and Anna to return Saturday, June 10, 2023, at the Harrison County Airport in Cynthiana, KY. The Harders are Mennonites. The Cynthiana chapter of the Experimental Aircraft Association (EAA) held a Young Eagles event where children ages 8 to 17 could receive a free flight and badge. After the flight, interested participants were encouraged to sign up for the local EAA chapter, which has monthly meetings.
Lukas Flippo / Yale University
2023 Rich Mahan Best Student Portfolio
Amber Cummings helps Tailyn Caudill, 7, try on an altered pageant dress Friday, June 30, 2023, at AK Custom Alterations in Cynthiana, KY.
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Levi Price, 6, (right) and Dawson Price, 3, (left) take a bath before going to sleep Thursday, July 6, 2023, in Berry, KY.
Lukas Flippo / Yale University
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Madelyn Fryman, 13, pulls her cow back into the trailer following an examination Thursday, June 8, 2023, at the Harrison Veterinary Clinic. The Fryman family, including mother, Kassie, father, Donnie, and daughters Madelyn, 13, and Lilly, 7, of Harrison County brought in two cows to be seen. One cow needed a nose ring, and the other only needed a health certificate, requirements for the animals to be shown in competition.The Harrison Veterinary Clinic sees a wide range of animals, including cats, dogs, pigs, horses, cows, and goats.
Lukas Flippo / Yale University
2023 Rich Mahan Best Student Portfolio
Contestants rush a greased pig Friday, July 21, 2023, at the greased pig contests at the Harrison County Fair in Cynthiana, KY. A local pig is lathered in a mixture of grease and various other viscous liquids to make it slippery, and contestants attempt to tackle and hold the pig. The winner will have held the pig anywhere from 30 to 60 seconds. In the upper age groups, the contestants must take the pig back to the trailer.
Lukas Flippo / Yale University
2023 Rich Mahan Best Student Portfolio
Employees work to cut up slabs of meat Friday, June 16, 2023, at Riverview Meat Company in Cynthiana, KY. The Riverview Meat Company processes meat for private customers, as well as for a retail storefront. On Fridays, the company hosts a cookout, where customers can buy freshly-cooked hamburgers, hot dogs, and other food.
Lukas Flippo / Yale University
2023 Rich Mahan Best Student Portfolio
6/27/23Cynthiana, Kentucky Allen Bryant works on a truck Tuesday, June 27, 2023, in Cynthiana, KY.
Lukas Flippo / Yale University