Caught between civil uncertainty and a novel coronavirus that swept the nation, Utahns are being uprooted from their routines, schedules and daily life.
Linh Tran-Layton understands what the unknown feels like. As a one-year-old, she immigrated with her family, which has a strong Chinese heritage, to the United States from Vietnam. As refugees, her family homesteaded in Utah, where Tran-Layton still resides.
Read more: Salt Lake City attorney sees her own immigration story in her clients’ experiences
Due to her parents’ educational expectations, Tran-Layton has always maintained lofty goals and set a high standard for herself, achieving her law degree at the University of Utah. This degree propelled her to become co-partner at a law firm in Salt Lake City, specializing in immigration.
A success story filled with twists and turns around every politically determined corner, Tran-Layton’s narrative asks the hard question: What is the American dream?
How these stories get told amid COVID-19
NPR’s Next Generation Radio gives student reporters, like me, the opportunity to learn digital journalism and audio storytelling through in-depth training with award-winning journalists around the nation. The founder of the program, Doug Mitchell, partnered with NPR affiliates 20 years ago to share captivating stories and amplify community voices.
KUER conducted the first virtual NPR Next Generation Radio training in July. Mentors and mentees learned how to not only interview through a computer screen, but to also adapt to the new form of non-narrative storytelling during the pandemic.
Watch a recap of the first remote Next Generation Radio Project below.
Megan Neff joined The Globe in 2019 as a staff writer. She plans to graduate from Salt Lake Community College this fall.
