Using his passion for advocacy, diversity and journalism as a guide, senior Kymon Warman found his desire to portray people’s stories and use his gifts to help inform people. Moving from Kearney, Warman has taken the opportunity provided to join journalism classes such as KLHS and Newspaper. Although Kearney does not produce a monthly newspaper, Warman is still experienced in journalism writing.
“I interned for the Kansas City The Call newspaper, which is a historically black newspaper in Kansas City,” Warman said. “At first, I was kind of hesitant because I had no experience with journalism and publications. But Mr. Weston, the Managing Editor there, threw me out there. I think that’s the best way with journalism, to put yourself out there and learn from experience. Even though we can do classes with journalism, having experience and learning for yourself really is the best way to do it.”
Kansas City The Call is an African-American weekly newspaper founded in 1919, with the aim of serving the black community of Kansas City, Missouri and Kansas City, Kansas.
“I got to cover a group of advocacy organizations that wanted to sue the Kansas City Police Department for past actions,” Warman said. “That was one of my big stories that I did, even though it was nerve-wracking. I was standing alongside other big journalists and big media organizations and it was like ‘I’m just Kymon by myself.’”
Warman covered both the Missouri and Kansas side of Kansas City, writing stories about the homeless population in Kansas City, food aid in Kansas, and COVID-19 related issues.
During his time at Kearney, Warman founded the Kearney Inclusion Diversity (KIND) club. A club with the goal of providing a safe space for minorities and workshops for people to learn.
“We aim to educate the people who aren’t being educated,” Warman said. “The people who are coming to these groups and workshops aren’t the people who need the most work because those are the people who are interested in stuff like that. We went out of our way to reach the populations of people that aren’t getting this type of education or might have a history of a lot of racism.”
