Two Homewood 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.
Homewood High School’s Miyelani Mathebula and Alabama School of Fine Arts student Allie Rezek, a Homewood resident, 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 The Homewood Star, 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. Miyelani and Allie 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.”
Mathebula, a sophomore at Homewood High School, serves as the community editor for The Homewood Tricorne, the school’s student newspaper. She is also vice president of the Homewood math team and captain of the Scholar’s Bowl team. With a passion for investigative reporting and storytelling, she hopes to use the Creator Collective as an opportunity to sharpen her writing skills and explore multimedia journalism.
Rezek, also a sophomore, attends the Alabama School of Fine Arts, where she studies English, multimedia journalism and media arts. She has won awards for her poetry and writes for GirlSpring and the Homewood Environmental Commission Newsletter. Through the Creator Collective, she hopes to refine her interviewing skills, expand her writing portfolio and gain more experience in multimedia content creation.
As members of the program, Mathebula and Rezek 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 Homewood 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)
- Baker Stewart, Vestavia Hills High School (Class of 2026)
- Corra Maddox, Vestavia Hills High School (Class of 2026)
- Luke Miller, Chelsea High School (Class of 2026)
