Two Vestavia Hills High School students have been selected to join the Starnes Media Creator Collective, an elite journalism and media mentorship program designed to provide real-world storytelling experience to high school students across the metro Birmingham area.
Vestavia Hills’ Baker Stewart and Corra Maddox were among the talented students chosen for the program, which offers hands-on opportunities in reporting, multimedia production and digital content creation. They will contribute to Starnes Media publications, including Vestavia Voice, while working alongside professional journalists and industry mentors.
“This year’s selection process was incredibly competitive,” said Tim Stephens, general manager of Starnes Media and executive director of the Creator Collective. “We received applications from an outstanding group of young journalists, and narrowing it down was no easy task. Baker and Corra stood out for their talent, enthusiasm and commitment to storytelling. We are excited to work with them and help them develop into the next generation of media professionals.”
Stewart, a junior, has experience in sports media and broadcasting. He serves as a play-by-play announcer for NFHS basketball broadcasts and has interned in graphic design for both Pure Game Sports and Knight Eady. He is also a member of the Vestavia Hills football team and an athletic intern for the school’s sports programs. Through the Creator Collective, he hopes to refine his storytelling abilities and gain a broader understanding of sports journalism.
Maddox, a junior, is the assistant editor of the Vestavia Hills yearbook and a co-captain of the school’s Science Olympiad team. She also writes for GirlSpring, an online publication that empowers young women. She hopes to use the program to strengthen her writing skills, improve her personal branding and explore potential career paths in journalism or law.
As members of the program, Stewart and Maddox will create monthly content for Starnes Media’s print and digital platforms. Their work will include written stories, multimedia projects and social media coverage of community events. In addition, they will participate in skill-building workshops and mentorship sessions with professionals in the journalism and media industries.
The students will meet for the first time in mid-March, with their initial assignments covering prom, graduation and spring sports in print, on websites and across social media channels. They will also collaborate on a group project, producing a mini-documentary chronicling the experiences of the inaugural class of the Creator Collective. Non-graduating students will return in the fall as part of the program for the 2025-26 academic year, and a second round of applications may be held later this year to expand the class.
In addition to the Vestavia students, the following students were also selected for the Creator Collective:
- Kinleigh Freeman, Mountain Brook High School (Class of 2026)
- Evelyn Lee, Mountain Brook High School (Class of 2026)
- Harper Wilbanks, Mountain Brook High School (Class of 2027)
- Cameron Johnson, Hoover High School (Class of 2025)
- Willow Smith, Hoover High School (Class of 2025)
- Daniela Marie Sollano, Spain Park High School (Class of 2026)
- Leyton McCarn, Spain Park High School (Class of 2027)
- Allie Rezek, Alabama School of Fine Arts (Class of 2027)
- Luke Miller, Chelsea High School (Class of 2026)
- Miyelani Mathebula, Homewood High School (Class of 2027)
