Lorinah Kollah has a clear determination to tell the stories around her, especially those which have remained out of the open air in her community. Her piece involves her own journey to find out what people believe are the roots of two common practices in Liberia: students bribing teachers for better grades, and teachers soliciting sexual favors from female students in exchange for better marks. As a student who knows Liberian students attending university, it is a wonder to know that they survived such a system of education. This piece is also especially timely because it still shows fragments of Liberian society that can still be improved after the civil war. Lorinah has lived through the conflict and is determined to change the attitudes that persisted afterward. She bluntly describes her surroundings, which does not help in terms of storytelling, but aids in building a mood of bleakness. Lorinah sprinkles in her own opinions and suggestions for the system between interviews, which is confusing. The sound quality fluctuates frequently, which is hard on the ears of those spoiled by NPR-quality editing. But the interviews themselves are raw and real; Lorinah has a gift for inspiring people to talk about what matters to them.

Things to notice: Lorinah has clear reporter drive, interviewing everyone from students to the Director of Secondary Education about the exploitation in education. Her interviews are standardized, and she knows how to listen. Her signature phrase is, "How do you make of it?" This is brilliant, because it not only solicits a response about future action to be taken but also coaxes out a personal belief about the situation from whomever she speaks to. Her emotionality is displayed while interviewing, but she maintains her professional objective. Most of her errors were purely technical, such as awkwardly written introductions and conclusions. The final conclusion comes off as more of a soapbox pronouncement, which I don't feel is her objective. The piece would also be much more accessible if she selected only one of her main topics (educational bribery and sexual exploitation of students) to focus on. I look forward to seeing more from Lorinah, though. Anyone with the guts to ask such probing questions to people of high status in their country, and the desire to tackle such a difficult topic, will only improve as time goes on.