Vyktorya Elymar Torres - Vyktorya Elymar Torres: Storyteller

JMS 430 Story Project

Final Project Essay

Blog Post

My Work

Contact

Resume

October 6, 2025As we are almost half way through the semester I am learning about artificial intelligence, photojournalism, and more. The use of AI has become popular at a rapid rate, and as a journalist I feel we have a duty to report the truth and not AI content. I expect to write about women in sports without the use of AI in hopes I’ll be able to find pictures and information without it being any form of artificial intelligence.&nbsp;

Growing up in San Diego and coming from a family of Mexican immigrant parents I am a student at San Diego State University. A journalism major with passion in sports journalism specifically women in sports.

About me: Vyktorya Elymar  Torres

Professional interviews with clear, accurate transcriptions for publication or research.

Interview Conducting and Transcriptions

Engaging and insightful feature articles that tell compelling human stories.

Feature Writing

Guidance and advice on editorial strategies, content planning, and publication processes.

Editorial Consultation

I work for my favorite sports team in San Diego. Wearing my number 13 jersey of Alex Morgan a.k.a the GOAT

Game Day Operations Crew Member 

San Diego Wave FC

I love to travel, specifically to soccer stadiums all around the world. This is me at the Women's World Cup 2023 before the semi-final game in Australia!

Traveling 

About Me

<a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/18C3gRipONHnYcNO9HyunQdcyOn81euNF5MgUNEHs-AE/edit?usp=sharing">Path to learn more about the usage of AI here</a>

AI Usage at Universities

<h3>15 days into government shutdown in the United States and citizens are speaking&nbsp;up.</h3>As the U.S. government is in it’s third week of shutdown, thousands are without jobs. Federal agencies are laying off government workers, and millions are calling out the Trump administration for a better agenda. Social media sparks conversation about what kind of administration is in charge of the country, asking; why could this be heading into the longest government shutdown?Austin Lee, @Austinleenyc who states on X (formally twitter) “America’s Shutdown — When Politics Stops, People Pay. Federal workers receive layoff notices as Washington fails to agree on funding. From military families to small towns — the cost of paralysis is human". Austin photo is also right above the headline. <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://x.com/hashtag/GovernmentShutdown?src=hashtag_click">#GovernmentShutdown</a><a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://x.com/hashtag/US?src=hashtag_click"> #US</a><a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://x.com/hashtag/Economy?src=hashtag_click"> #Economy</a><a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://x.com/hashtag/Leadership?src=hashtag_click"> #Leadership</a><a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://x.com/hashtag/AccountabilityMatters?src=hashtag_click"> #AccountabilityMatters</a> When government stops, life doesn’t. Paychecks freeze, families worry, and public trust erodes — one deadline at a time. This isn’t about parties or power. It’s about millions of Americans who keep the country running, now told to wait… again. In every shutdown, the human cost is the only thing that never gets refunded”. (<a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://x.com/austinleenyc/status/1976765019892138267">https://x.com/austinleenyc/status/1976765019892138267</a>)

Government Shutdown

Photograph: Valery Tenevoy / https://plagness.com/makhnitskiy-2021 / Данил Павлович Махницкий, избирается в Государственную Думу 8-го созыва как кандидат от партии «Новые люди» в 202 одномандатном округе (Новомосковский избирательный округ): Внуковское, Воскресенское, Десёновское, Кокошкино, Марушкинское, Московский, Мосрентген, Рязановское, Сосенское, Филимонковское и Щербинка.

The government shutdown has not stopped the rest of the country to continue living their lives. A post on Bluesky made by @<a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="http://Patriottakes.bsky.social">Patriottakes.bsky.social</a> expresses how the President Donald Trump is still living his day-by-day lifestyle, going out to golf.

Then on the other side you have reporters, news politicians, and regular citizens who are being affected by the government shutdown. Talking about how this shutdown came to be, pointing the fingers at certain politician's, whether it was the democratic party or republican. They want answers for the public to be informed on everything. On X we have Madeline Summerville who is a TV political and legal analyst among other things. Has posted a video on her behalf of why she believes the shutdown happened. Madeline states in her tweet, “No Spin #Republicans #Democrats #GovernmentShutdown”.Lastly there are people speaking for the government shutdown as they are either federal employees, employers, or military personal. @Saltytattooedmomma on TikTok speaks up about how military personal are complaining about the government shutdown. Her tweets state as she posted a video, “Shutdown or not — DFAS still delivered.The military never missed a paycheck. Not this year. Not this shutdown. Not once since 1877.<a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://x.com/hashtag/MilitaryPay?src=hashtag_click"> #MilitaryPay</a><a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://x.com/hashtag/PayOurTroops?src=hashtag_click"> #PayOurTroops</a><a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://x.com/hashtag/GovernmentShutdown?src=hashtag_click"> #GovernmentShutdown</a><a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://x.com/hashtag/TroopTruth?src=hashtag_click"> #TroopTruth</a><a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://x.com/hashtag/MilitaryLife?src=hashtag_click"> #MilitaryLife</a>”.<a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZTMP69BAj/">https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZTMP69BAj/</a>As we head onto the 15th day of the government shutdown, the Trump administrations has halted work for at least 4,000 federal employees, and is heading towards 10,000 due to a failure of an agreement for a healthcare bill. There is also a failure of agreement for a approval of both parties for the budget fiscal year 2026. As this may lead for the longest government shutdown, the people of the United States-whether they aren’t affected, are speaking up on how it could possibly affect the country as they continue to be shutdown.

As I am still a undergrad, here is a look at my work in progress before graduating:<ul><li>I have an A.A. in Kinesiology from Southwestern College in 2022</li><li>I have mastered the EGUMPP certification</li><li>I have worked with the San Diego Wave FC for almost 3 years</li><li>I have volunteered for sports journalism in San Diego </li></ul>and morecoming soon...

Portfolio 

For this lab assignment I looked up the research data on the website Data Quest which is provided by the California Department of Education. I analyzed the data of San Diego County high school student dropout rates and the percentages at which the Sweetwater Union High School district provided. There were 17 high schools in the Chula Vista, San Diego that I was able to draw conclusions from and create an infographic and a map provided down below. They explain where the schools are in San Diego, and the statistics for the amount of students who have dropped out. I choose Google Sheets for the maps because I had previously used sheets before and knowing how relatively easy it was to use, I thought it wil be again for this assignment. For the infographic I wanted to use a platform I had not used yet to get some tech savvy knowledge and used Piktochart. It was pretty easy to use and go around to learn as the same time.

Lab 9: Data Visualization

<a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/1oBjwMAOixLhlFjGjlLOwsRpVv2Lo5_EQErOVBc4rlgo/edit?usp=sharing">Link to my resume</a>

Reach Out

Photograph: Valery Tenevoy / https://plagness.com / July 14, 2019

Throughout the semester I believed to have known much about technology. However I learned a whole new world of journalistic technology. Gaining a better understand of how to develop a website, buying a doman, and how it can create safe spaces for reporters to share news with the community. This is helpful for my future self because I can apply to future projects I will do at jobs I may have in journalism or media. This is crucial to todays's digital media landscape, knowing how to develop my own websites or apply photojournalism to my knowledge can be effective for me.

Some ethical guidelines I followed for when I did my story was following the spj code of ethics. Meaning I acted independent when writing my story and having one on one meetings with my human sources. It was important for me to do this even if I my own reservations on AI. Doing research beyond asked was important because I can fully understand what I am talking about when sharing my story. Being respectful was a huge role in being able to gather all the information I needed from my human resources.The challenges I faced was a time difference with my human resources. Another one was not knowing what was the website Solo and not knowing how to navigate it. I also had human sources who spoke another language which thankfully I was fluent in as well and I was able to translate. However it was challenging to explain to them my project. I gained being able to have this Solo website. Not having a website was something I prolonged. Living in this digital era and it being here to stay, having a website is a huge plus for journalists. Apart from having social media, a website is professional and gains more opportunities from community trust. Ultimately gaining more technology savvy techniques is a great thing.

Free to use license. Please attribute source back to "useproof.com".

Being able to set up my own content. Such as a website for my own gain. For the community in which I'd report too. This can give me access to feedback or insight on what is going on in the digital world. I can improve as digital journalism continues to grow.&nbsp;I had experience using data for sports journalism at a job I have. However for anything else other than sports I had not. Therefore using it for other journalistic uses was amazing to see how much data is out there for the public to access. This can allow me report in other areas not just sports.&nbsp; I had never relayed on AI or use AI as much before until now. This year perhaps even more because it seemed dawned upon all these other years. Due to it's inability to be reliable. AI has expanded and become reliable and using it in class has helped me understand how I can use it to my advantage. There were methods of AI I had not known before and now that I do I will definitely use it for future work.&nbsp;Being able to play around with making a professional website such as Solo. I had never had my own website and finally getting to have one motives me to continue being a reporter and informing. Being able to reach out to human sources and talking about something we both have in common such as AI. AI being a huge topic in conversation now a days it was a no brainer to choose it as my project/story. It was a successful exchange of information from my sources to develop a story.&nbsp;