• Skip to main content
  • Skip to secondary menu
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
  • Home
  • Resources
  • Submit
  • Tips/Contact Us
  • About
  • MIPA
theupstart.mipamsu.org

The Upstart

Covering the MIPA Summer Journalism Workshop

  • Home
  • Narratives
  • News
    • News Briefs
    • Announcements
  • Trends
  • Profiles
  • Commentary
  • Visuals
    • Photography
    • Design
    • Video
    • Data Visualizations
  • Submitted Work
    • Design & Graphics
    • Multimedia
    • Photography
    • Writing

My town of Midland

July 23, 2025 by Natalie Yates

By Finn Konett | Sophomore | Skyline High School

[This work comes from the Art of Storytelling class, taught by Julia Satterthwaite.]

Growing up in the charming town of Midland, senior Jazzy Steins has always held on to the little things — the things that make her want to stay. These are the things that she knows.

She knows that her neighbor Jason is a chef and has a dog named Wendy. She knows that her neighbor Pete likes to cook. She knows he loves wine and pasta, and he is working on building a mobile home.

She knows that community is such an important part of life, and she knows that it’s good to pitch in when you can. Like walking Jason’s dog Wendy around the block when Jason goes on vacation.

She knows that she loves riding dirtbikes with her girlfriends at Haley Mae’s grandfather’s place and sobbing through sappy rom-coms like “The Notebook.” She knows that you should cherish your friendships, especially when you argue.

She knows that her sister Jade is her best friend. She knows that she loves going on two-hour drives with her while they sing loudly to Bhad Bunny. She also knows that if she spends too much time with Jade, they’ll get into an argument, so she knows when it’s time to go or hang up the phone. 

She knows that bonding, especially with the pompon team at her school, is important. She knows that it’s good that she made it to states with her team, even if they got last in their division. But she also knows that first division is the best division, so, in a way, she sort of won. 

She knows that if you aren’t sure if you should do something because you’re afraid, you should just do it. 

Filed Under: Submitted Work, Writing Tagged With: MIPA 2025

Primary Sidebar

More to See

Panel Wrap Up: Farewell To MIPA’s Guest Speakers

July 24, 2025 By Ashe Watson

Our farthest travelers’ journey to Michigan

July 24, 2025 By Natalie Yates

Work From Across MIPA

Why The Curtains Are Blue: The Importance of Reading On Our Empathy

By Christina Karcher | Sophomore | Grosse Pointe South High School [This work comes from the Art of Storytelling class, taught by Julia Satterthwaite.] Ever since I knew how to string letters into words, and those words into sentences, I have loved to read. I would read for hours at a time, fiction about fairies […]

Careers in crayon

By Baity Wagner | senior | Wylie E. Groves High School [This work comes from the Art of Storytelling class, taught by Julia Satterthwaite.] I soaked in school like a sponge. I loved learning about shapes, addition and how to write a proper sentence. Despite the abundance of lessons that are thrown at you in […]

Footer

Text Widget

This is an example of a text widget which can be used to describe a particular service. You can also use other widgets in this location.

Examples of widgets that can be placed here in the footer are a calendar, latest tweets, recent comments, recent posts, search form, tag cloud or more.

Sample Link.

Recent

  • MIPA gives young journalists a professional head start
  • Panel Wrap Up: Farewell To MIPA’s Guest Speakers
  • Our farthest travelers’ journey to Michigan
  • Why The Curtains Are Blue: The Importance of Reading On Our Empathy
  • Careers in crayon

Search

Tags

#MIPA2014 2010 airplanes announcements bobby hawthorne Chad Sanders design entertainment feature coverage graphics indesign infographics journalism karlgude Karl Gude Megan Pisarczyk michigan interscholastic press association MIPA mipa2011 MIPA 2011 MIPA 2012 mipa2013 MIPA 2014 MIPA2016 MIPA 2018 MIPA 2025 MIPA camp mipa workshop MSU music newspaper opinion photography press conference Smile you're on camera sparty winner sports sports coverage The Bobby Hawthorne Experience upstart video volleyball workshop writing yearbook

Copyright © 2025 · Magazine Pro on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in