Three Mountain Brook 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.
Kinleigh Freeman, Evelyn Lee and Harper Wilbanks 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 Village Living, 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. Kinleigh, Evelyn and Harper 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.”
Freeman, a junior, serves as an anchor and producer for Spartan 2 News. She has covered Mountain Brook athletics and recently guest-anchored for WBRC Fox 6 News. In addition to her journalism work, she is a varsity cheerleading captain and MBHS ambassador. She hopes to use the program to sharpen her writing and marketing skills as she prepares for a future in journalism.
Lee, also a junior, is an intern for the Mountain Brook broadcast team and creates media content for the school’s jumbotron and sports teams. She has won multiple awards at the Alabama Scholastic Press Association competition and was invited to assist in professional production recordings at Virginia Samford Theatre. Lee’s goal is to refine her storytelling abilities and gain exposure to different forms of media production.
Wilbanks, a sophomore, is a writer for the GirlSpring Organization and a member of the Mountain Brook High School yearbook staff. Inspired by a family friend who works as a travel journalist, she developed a passion for writing and storytelling at a young age. Through the Creator Collective, she hopes to improve her reporting and feature-writing skills while exploring potential career paths in media.
As members of the program, Freeman, Lee and Wilbanks 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 three Mountain Brook students, the following students were also selected for the Creator Collective:
- 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)
- Baker Stewart, Vestavia Hills High School (Class of 2026)
- Corra Maddox, Vestavia Hills High School (Class of 2026)
- 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)
