“You know, you’re a completely different person than you were last year.” Funny enough I’ve had this conversation numerous times with many different people. I have changed my appearance a lot over the past few months, I dyed my hair brunette, began to self tan on a regular basis (whether that a good thing or not is a question for another day), and began to grow out of my baby face. Although this has changed what I look like I believe that who I am on the inside has changed for the better over the course of my Sophomore year. When I entered high school I was so caught up in every teacher and every student liking me, and getting good grades that I was constantly stressed and worried.  If I’m being honest I can’t think of a positive memory in school during my freshman year. At the end of my Freshman year, when we began to build our schedules, I received a letter saying teacher thought I would excel in the journalism class and to consider joining. With little thought I immediately added it to my schedule. That might have been the best decision of my life. I’ve compiled a list of lessons Journalism has taught me over the year.

1.  One year is enough to build strong relationships.

Walking into this class for the first time was a little nerve racking. I didn’t know a lot of the people on staff and I was just expected to work as a team with them. I can confidently say not that the 2022-2023 journalism staff is truly like family. My older sister Celia, who had AP Lang with Mrs. Basinger, would talk about how good news at the beginning of class way always so awkward and the leader would always have to call on people to share. The journalism class is the exact opposite. Sometimes I could tell Mrs. Basinger was stressed because we took 20 minutes for good news because we were so invested in each other lives. It defiantly takes effort, but strangers can become close friends in the matter of months and that is what the journalism class has done for me.

2. Time management is Key.

Going into the beginning of Journalism I thought “It’s just writing a couple stories a month, it can’t be that hard” BOY WAS I WRONG. Now I’m not saying that this class is work overload, but it does remind you to keep on top of your work and to not fall behind.

3. Not everybody is gonna like you, and that’s ok.

Throughout the year we would have brainstorming ideas for stories. A lot of the time we would stop and have a conversation about weather or not it was a good use of our publication, and if people were gonna like the story. Almost all of the time Mrs. Basinger would tell us ” Yes” she never cared about what the public thought, only what we wanted to write and how she could support us. This always encouraged me to carry that mindset into my own life. I caught myself changing what I did to please others, or constantly thinking about what other people were gonna think of me. Not everybody is going to agree or like what you do, but you need to support yourself before you can support others.

4. Always say yes (unless it’s highly illegal )

This one can be controversial, but in years past I would say no to going to events or even hanging out with my friends. At the beginning of this year I told myself that I needed to say yes more and go to. We only get four years of high school, and If you spend them sleeping, or just sitting on Tik Tok at your house you won’t have any memories. When I start thinking about what could go wrong, or why I should say no to someone I remember something I have seen a lot on social media. The saying ” For the Plot.” Writing stories in Journalism reminds me that life is short and news stories don’t happen without the word yes.

5. Press conferences cause us to be in the actual news

As you probably know, ADM has had a rough year. We had the death of a student tin January, a school board debacle, a building burn down, an administrator suffer a heart attack, and our head football coach resign. Now I’m not saying this is our fault, but these conveniently always happen a few days after the staff meets with Mr. Dufoe. More to come on these “coincidences” in August.

A lot has changed about me in the past year, and as I begin to look back and see why, I cant help but wonder if I would be the same if I didn’t enroll in Journalism. Usually at the end of the year highschoolers can’t wait to exit those doors for the last time until August, but this year I can’t help but be a little sad to leave the journalism class. I’ve never had such a close knit and family like atmosphere in a class. I can confidentially say News Journalism has changed me for the better and helped me build life long relationships.