Texas Observer reporter Michelle Pitcher describes her high school self with one word.
Sassy.
It might be an insult to some, but to a former executive editor-in-chief like herself, it is the mark of a true journalist. It is what fueled her columns opposing Coppell ISD’s policies to integrate more technology in the classroom despite the criticisms she received – it is what fueled her bright future in journalism.
Pitcher joined The Sidekick in 2010 as opinions editor, inspired by older sister and 2008 CHS graduate Amanda Pitcher. Even as a high school reporter, Michelle went out of her way to cover issues she found important and push past obstacles in her way to report the truth around her, a mindset she kept as executive editor-in-chief from 2011-13.
“We unfortunately had a couple of deaths my senior year, and I remember that we wanted to cover them, but the administration had some hesitation because one of them was a suicide,” Michelle said. “I just remember [The Sidekick adviser Chase Wofford] listening to the editors when we told him how we wanted to cover it and going to bat for us with the administration. We were covering real world things.”
Michelle majored in journalism at the University of California at Berkeley. Surrounded by other aspiring journalists, she started to recognize the worth of her high school newspaper more than before.
“We were given such a degree of freedom,” Michelle said. “It felt like the students were really running the show. You really had to form journalistic ethics and your own belief system about what you wanted to cover and how. There was very little hand-holding, so you had to grow up fast in a way that I think was really beneficial.”
Today, as a reporter for the Texas Observer, Michelle uses the same steely resolve to follow the criminal justice system in the state. Texas still implements the death penalty, and with criminal justice reporters becoming a scarcity, she is on every case.
“There is kind of a dearth of reporting on executions when they happen,” Michelle said. “I have been recently trying to cover every single one because of the uniqueness of the cases. Every story is different.”
Although Michelle may be reporting across the state, part of her heart remains in The Sidekick newsroom at Coppell High School: D115.
“I’m 30 now and I’ll never forget that,” Michelle said. “Rarely in your career will you have such a solid background, institution and people behind you. It was honestly the best journalism education I could have asked for and I am so grateful that as an establishment, it’s still going strong.”
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