Meet The Fall 2020 ENN Staff

by Scott Carter
Hallee Ross, News Editor

Hallee Ross

Hallee is a 17-year-old old student at EPIC Charter Schools. She enjoys long walks on the beach and getting caught in the rain. She’s is an excellent note taker and art enthusiast. As ENN’s student news editor she’s given a broad range of takes such reviewing copy and helping plan the content for ENN’s website.

She also likes her coffee black.

Bekah Disney, Photo Editor

Rebekah Disney

Bekah serves as the ENN Photo Editor. She is 16 and a junior in high school. She lives on a large piece of land near the Cimarron River close to the town of Crescent. She has four younger siblings: two sisters and two brothers. She enjoys working with her family, growing a garden and raising chickens. When she is not working or helping her family you will find her reading a book, taking pictures, listening to music or talking to her best friend. She also loves to sketch random stuff. She is a huge OU football and LA Lakers fan.

Bekah is a member of EPIC’s National Honor Society and the student council. She enjoys volunteering as a web designer for EPIC Live, which is an online organization of classes available for students taught by EPIC teachers. 

Jason McDaniel, Chief Photographer

Jason McDaniel

Jason is ENN’s Chief Photographer. He was named Photographer of the Year by the Oklahoma Scholastic Media Association in 2019.

Jason attends EPIC’s Blended Learning Center at Midwest City. He is in the eighth grade and when he is not doing his school work, he is taking photographs.

Alexis Adams

Alexis Adams

Alexis Adams is a junior in high school. She lives in Mustang with her mom and her 15-year-old dachshund, Sassy. This is her third year with EPIC and she is excited about trying new things. 

Alexis is very interested in photography. She likes taking pictures of anything and everything. However, as much as she likes photography, she is still undecided about what to do in the future, so she is trying to do a little bit of everything. She thought journalism seemed really interesting and like something she might like to do in the future. She is excited about the opportunity to join ENN.

Amanda Barnett

Amanda Barnett

Amanda Barnett is a sophomore this year. This is her second year at EPIC and her first year with ENN. In her spare time, she likes to go thrifting and read books. She also loves writing, and she’s excited for the opportunity at ENN and to learn how to become a better writer. 

She discovered that she liked writing at a young age. She became really interested in it when I she in 8th grade. She wrote an essay about mental health for a school project which was a turning point for me. She realized that she loved writing, especially about something that she passionate about. She is excited to join ENN this year.

Andy Anderson

Andy Anderson

Andy Anderson is from Wellston, a very small town east of Edmond.  When he was 16, he lived in Colorado before moving to Oklahoma. In Colorado he played soccer. 

Andy likes making YouTube videos and watching sports. He is also very interested in editing videos, doing  video effects and making beats to music. He played the drums and is learning the guitar. Andy says people would describe me as funny and caring. He says he really likes to hang out with my friends and he is looking forward  to what the future holds.

Anya White

Anya White

Anya Leigh White is a sixteen year old junior in EPIC. She has had a 4.0 grade point average since her freshman year. She’s hoping to become valedictorian when she graduates. After high school, she said she would like to go into pediatric neurosurgery. She is passionate about writing and journalism and shedding light on important often overlooked political events in the country. She wants to make sure the names of those who have suffered are heard. 

Anya has competed in competitive mixed martial arts since she was eight. She also loves reading classics literature such as The Picture of Dorian Gray, Pride and Prejudice and The Great Gatsby. Some of my family resides in a small state run spa town in Southeastern Germany called, Bad Wildungen. Anya speaks German. She said she is excited and grateful for the opportunity to work with ENN.

Aubrey Richey

Aubrey Richey

Aubrey Richey is a fifteen year old sophomore at Epic Charter Schools. She lives in Oklahoma City.  She is exceptionally interested in animal liberation, speaking for those who can’t and studies philosophical issues, putting her own ideas on the things we have always believed in.

Aubrey is also interested astrophysics. Science is something she is enthusiastic about. She is a collector of non-fiction books by Stephan Hawking, Peter Singer, Richard Dawkins.

Chris Rabourn

Chris Rabourn

Christopher Rabourn is a student journalist with the EPIC News Network. He is a photographer and a video editor. He loves to play basketball, football. He loves cars especially Dodge Chargers and Challengers.

Chris loves to go fast. He would love to travel the world with friends and family. He loves to talk and hangout with my friends. He also loves to play competitive computer games like Call of Duty. Chris enjoys listening to music, watching movies and being a photographer. 

Courtney Eubanks

Courtney Eubanks

Cortney Eubanks said she is excited about her second year at EPIC. She is in the 9th grade and loves photography, cats, writing and her friends and family.

Courtney plans on opening a photography business with one of her best friends in the future. She loves writing and telling people about what happened during her day. She is excited for her first year at ENN.

Devon Rabourn

Devon Rabourn

Devon Rabourn lives in Nicoma Park with his Mom, Dad, his three brothers and his dog. Devon has been going to Epic since the 6th grade and this will be his second year going to the Midwest City Blended Learning Center.

Devon loves to play xBox with my family. He loves playing Fortnite, Watchdog, Call of Duty, Destiny, and car racing. Devon loves to play basketball and football outside with his brothers.

Devon is a hard worker. He also enjoys listening to music.

Emma Jenks

Emma Jenks

Emma Jenks is the daughter of Becky and Steve Jenks. She has three sisters: Aliyah, Sophia and Nora. Emma is also an award-winning cake decorator. In 2013, she won first place along with best in division, in the Tulsa Sugar Art Show. She continued to compete until 2017. She has three first place prizes and one best in division prize.

She is employed as a secretary at Calorie Counter, where she works with her father. Emma has been a dancer with Beloved Dance Academy since 2014. Currently she is taking ballet, tap, jazz, and hip-hop. As of right now Emma is acting in two plays. She is in musical theater with Owasso Preparatory Academy and a play directed by her friend Julia Carpenter. She has been cast in the OPA play, Sleeping Beauty, as the understudy of the good fairy.

Gabe Moss

Gabe Moss

Gabriel Moss said he joined ENN to build a name for himself and leave the identity of a ‘weird, quiet, and awkward kid’ behind.  “For the majority of my adolescence I believed it was best for me to fade into crowds and make as if I was a person that I truly wasn’t,” he said.

He said he wants to leave his mark and make the world much more radiant and picturesque because he is a black sheep. He likes film, television, literature and any medium of storytelling. A writer, he works for pleasure. He said he is gratified to work for ENN.

Grace Ann White

Grace Ann White

Grace Ann is a ninth grade student at EPIC. This is her third year with EPIC and her second year with ENN.  She plans to graduate and go to college for a degree in journalism. She has been interested in journalism for a few years now and plans on being an anchor for a local news station when she gets older. 

Along with all her career goals, Grace Ann is a huge outdoors person and has been her whole life. She enjoys hunting and has since she was about two, along with hunting she enjoys fishing. Most importantly she is very active in her local church, where her father serves as pastor. Not only is she active in the church but she is actively involved with her community, volunteering with local food distribution and serving her local first responder community.

Hannah Rose

Hannah Rose

Hannah Rose is a high school at EPIC. She plays the drums, a little bit of guitar and does vocal music as well. She enjoys recreational golf and watching OU Women’s Basketball. She loves the EPIC News Network because of the variety of topics the reporters cover and the ways those stories are covered. Hannah said she had already made some friends with Epic and has made more after joining ENN! 

Hannah enjoys spending time with her family, her dog Roscoe, and the other family dogs, Bella, Sassi, and Tank. She also loves being outside with her pet koi, Double Bogey, as well as the other koi members of her family. She enjoys writing and is currently working on her own book series as well as a few other books. After finishing high school she plans to attend The University of Oklahoma and study to become an adult and pediatric general/plastic surgeon.

Jackson Ingle

Jackson Ingle

Jackson Ingle is a 16-year-old sophomore and a student journalist for the EPIC News Network. He enrolled at EPIC about three years ago. He is passionate about for writing and the art of film.

Last year he began reviewing movies. In addition to reviewing movies and music, he has written scripts, screen plays and even a few story boards.

Julian Glendinning

Julian Glendinning

Julian Glendinning is a student at EPIC Charter Schools. He is interested in podcasts and broadcasting of any kind. His special interests involves history.

He said he has been passionate about preserving history since he was in eighth grade. He likes to tell people about historical subjects in a story-like fashion, so that they stay interested in the subject.

Kaelyn Smith

Kaelyn Smith

Kaelyn Smith is a junior at EPIC Charter Schools. She is a storyteller at heart and loves doing creative writing and posts for personal blogs. She is interested in writing (and podcasting) for current events, entertainment, doing interviews, and local news with ENN this year.

Kaelyn enjoys spending time with my family, youth group, and friends. She loves adventuring, meeting new people, and laughing a lot. She also sings in her church choir and does musical theater. She said she enjoys a good workout and every now and then, a good rock climbing session. One of her favorite things to do is to settle down with a good book and fluffy blanket.

Keagan Blakley

Keagan Blakley

Keagan Blakley is a 16-year-old junior at EPIC. For over a year, he has taken an interest in photography. He said he developed his interest through the technological side of things: computer hardware, and how those things worked down to the bone. Keagan is a photographer for ENN.

This led him to study how cameras worked. Since then he has made that a learning experience. He said photography helped him enjoy nature more than ever and motivates him to go outside to try to find something he’s never before seen. Keagan said his wish for the future is to be able to make photography a career and not simply a hobby.

Kenzie Watson

Kenzie Watson

Kenzie Watson is a junior and a broadcaster with ENN. She spends 15 hours each day in studio where she studies dance and music theater.

Performing is something she is passionate about. She enjoys competing at dance competition with my dance team. When she isn’t dancing or at ENN, she is doing schoolwork, playing with her dogs or drinking lemonade

Makhi Callins

Makhi Callins

Makhi Callins, Khi, is a 17-year-old senior at EPIC. This is his second year as a member of the EPIC News Network. He is a prize-winning student journalist. Makhi joined ENN joined this news group because of his love of writing. Some of his interests include reading, art, cooking, and politics.

Makhi is from Mangum, a small town of about 3,000. When he was younger he played sports, but as he got older he said he grew out of the stereotypical ‘normal’ for a teenaged guy. Makhi likes music and when he is not in his room he says he is probably in the kitchen eating because food brings him joy. Normally, a quiet person, he said writing is an outlet that lets him speak his mind.

Maycee Elerick

Maycee Elerick

Maycee Elerick is a high school sophomore at Epic Charter Schools. She has always been passionate about social issues and politics.

Maycee is currently a co-host of ENN Now, EPIC’s news show.  Maycee plans on attending college and earning a degree in film and video production. In addition to her academic goals, Maycee wants to become a professional content creator. Her hobbies include rock climbing, Brazillian Jiu-Jitsu and art.

Melissa Clift

Melissa Clift

Melissa Clift is a 17-year-old senior at EPIC. She is passionate about writing, human rights and activism. She plans to use her abilities as a way to speak out against oppression and bigotry.

Melissa believes that all people should be treated equally no matter their race, gender, sexuality, etc.

Melissa lives in Inola, with her mother and step-father. She is working towards a creative writing career as a novelist.

Mira Hume

Mira Hume

Mira Hume, is a 16 year-old junior at EPIC. She is from Oklahoma City and the youngest of three in her family. This is her second year with ENN. For the first part of her life she was a competitive gymnast and practicing 33 hours a week. Last year, she hung up my grips, but kept her gymnastic side alive through coaching and with my podcast on ENN called “Chalk Talk.”

This year Mira said she is excited to explore new interest through journalism. She wants to continue her podcast and cover other parts of life such as criminal justice, the judicial system and the court system. One of her goals is to improve her writing and learn about on-air reporting. For Mira, news brings people together through current events; whether they come together in grief, happiness or community events. This year she wants to amplify other people’s stories and voices through her reporting.

Miranda Carey

Miranda Carey

Miranda Carey is a sophomore from Broken Arrow. loves to write and do research. She also does special effects makeup.She wants to do Zoology explorations and then write her research in a book of some kind. She spends most of my time working in her room or doing CrossFit at the gym.

She says she is not a big people person and gets stressed very easily. She loves classic rock from the 80’s and 90’s. She also loves horror movies. She is open to all opinions and beliefs.

Moriah Ellis

Moriah Ellis

Moriah Ellis is in the eighth grade. A former soccer player she said she is now putting more time into he other interests. Her passions include reading, writing, and making music. Her family is incredibly important to her.

She has played the violin since the age of five and recently started playing the piano. She loves to sing and do choir, and music is a big part of who she is.

For her, writing is a stress-reliever. She likes writing about almost anything. In her downtime she is usually reading a book. She said she can be shy, but once she gets to know people, she is outgoing and talkative.

Olivia Evans

Olivia Evans

Olivia Evans is an aspiring writer and actress. After being in public school for most of her life, she switched to EPIC this year as a result of the Coronavirus. Olivia’s passions are primarily Music Theatre and English. She also enjoys sketching and photography.

While being in a musical may not be possible at the moment, she’s focusing on improving and learning more about journalism and English through ENN. She is a 10th grader this year and intends to attend and graduate college with a degree in Art, English, or some combination of both.

Olivia has two sisters, Natalee and Abigail, as well as two dogs, Jaxx and Pepper. She will turn 16 in December. Olivia has lived in Tulsa for most of her life, and plans to move in the future. She is still deciding on what she wants to do as a job, but teaching and animating are currently her top two. Olivia is eager to contribute to EPIC News Network to create her own person and find her footing in the world around her.

Rylie Eisenhauer

Rylie Eisenhauer

Rylie Eisenhauer is a junior at EPIC Charter Schools. This will be her second year as a member of EPIC News Network.

She is the creator of an award winning podcast, and best known for her interviews with political figures. She loves all things creative and anything revolving around the arts. She is also a long time member of the Honor Roll. 

Solomon Sephus

Solomon Sephus

Solomon Sion Sephus was born on November 1st, 2005, in Kaiserslautern, Germany. He is 14 years old. Solomon comes from a military family that extends many generations.

His hobbies are playing basketball, playing the keyboard, playing the flute, playing video games and putting together puzzles. His favorite movies are The Lord of the Rings, The Avengers, Black Panther and The Hobbit.

His favorite TV shows are Black-ish, and What Would You Do?. This is his third year at EPIC and his first year with the EPIC News Network. He said he is attempting to do his part in the fight for racial injustice.

Wesley Mantooth

Wesley Mantooth

Wesley Mantooth is a ninth grader at EPIC. Wesley plans on finishing high school and going to college to study either airplane mechanics or child psychology. 

Wesley’s hobbies include baking or really anything to do with cooking, talking and playing with my younger cousins and my friends’ siblings. Wesley also enjoys reading books and playing physics games such as Portal. Wesley loves to walk around and collect cool sticks and rocks. Wesley has several animals including an Iguana and three black cats

Vanessa Williams

Vanessa Williams

Vanessa Williams is a 17-year-old senior at Epic. She started coming to Epic when she was in the 5th grade. Vanessa, a photographer, said she excited to see what her last year of ENN/Epic has in store. She said she has had a camera in my hands for as long as she can remember.

Jensen McKey

Jensen McKey

Jensen McKey is fourteen years old and in 8th grade. She plays and referees soccer and has been with the Oklahoma City Energy for two seasons. She loves science and history and despises math.

Jensen loves writing and podcasts and is also part of the team for the news recap. She is learning American Sign Language for foreign language and is also learning Norwegian, Portuguese, French, and Spanish on her own time (because she loves making things difficult for herself). She has two cats and one dog and is both amazed and terrified by snakes.


Joseph Smith

Joseph Smith

Joseph Smith is 17 years old and a junior in high school. He has lived in both Choctaw and Caney. He discovered writing was a hobby he enjoyed.

In 2018, Joseph decided to teach himself video production. He began by learning editing with Vegas 15 pro. He now enjoys writing and editing for the EPIC News Network. “ENN has changed my life,” Joseph said, “I can know write and edit for my school as well as the public.”