Melanie Pincus
McLean High School
Whether she’s poring through the county budget or chronicling the experiences of transgender students, Melanie Pincus is a stickler for accuracy, sensitivity and truth in reporting. That drive served her well as editor-in-chief of McLean High School’s newsmagazine, The Highlander, and it earned her the distinction of being named 2017 “Virginia Student Journalist of the Year” by the Virginia Association of Journalism Teachers and Advisers.
“She leads by example—she’s always willing to leave the classroom to get the story,” says journalism adviser Lindsay Benedict, even if it means having to play catch-up with school work later. (This was no small feat, given the five A.P. classes that rounded out Pincus’s senior year course load.) Add to that a gift for inspiring others and a personality that “really lights up the room” and you’ve got a teen who is as persuasive in person as she is in print.
Pincus says covering the school board was “a useful way to become a better citizen,” and interviewing fellow students was always a highlight. “Getting to know so many people and tell so many stories was a really eye-opening experience,” says the 18-year-old, who led a staff of 45 student-journalists at The Highlander.
An honor student and National Merit finalist, she also co-headed the debate team and participated in her school’s McLeadership program, which pairs freshmen with upperclass mentors.
“[High] school can be competitive and high-pressure at times. It can be overwhelming,” says the teen, who heads to Brown University in the fall. “The message I tried to convey to freshmen is, you should try to do what you are passionate about. Everything else will fall into place from there.”