I knew that I wanted to join News Journalism as a freshman as I watched my older brother, Aaron Teckenburg, shine in the journalism world and claim that this class what the most fun out of any other elective. I have always been an English and writing fan, knowing that words seem to come easy to me when writing. However, I never would’ve guessed that I would leave behind that comfort skill and step into a new arena of videography and editing.

One of my brother’s favorite parts of news was the Friday Flash, our video publication highlighting the students here at ADM and telling the story of our school as the years go on. I knew coming into this class that I would want a part in that, but it wasn’t until Mrs. Basinger explained the role of Director of Visual Media that I discovered I wanted to BE the Friday Flash. After a quick one on one interview, pitching my ideas to improve and modernize the Friday Flash, I was lucky enough to be offered the class role of Director of Visual Media. In simpler terms, the editor and director behind everything related to the Friday Flash. I was excited for the experience I was about to receive… and I 100% underestimated the workload I was about to take on.

In the first month, our whole staff of first-timers was still trying to get off our training wheels of operating our news site, writing stories, and filming/editing before deadline. It was a mess by all means, and I was beginning to doubt my ability to carry the weight of producing our monthly video. However, with the undeniable support from my peers and teacher, I starting brainstorming how to make this work. We ultimately decided on our new video intro, inspired by the theme from ‘The Office’, and everyone pulled their own weight to bring the 2022-2023 Friday Flash to life. With every month, I fell in love with editing even more. It started to become too easy, almost like second nature. So, I bumped up my own standards. After getting it approved from the staff, we added a blooper reel.

Apart from maneuvering our video publication, I also started a podcast with Kate Weieneth. Our podcast “Let’s Talk” was a seed of an idea at the beginning of the school year, but thanks to the amazing work put in from Kate, we were able to sit down and make it happen. Whether we did a written story or a filmed episode, ‘Let’s Talk’ is definitely one of the best things to come out of my first year in news. It allowed myself and Kate to be creative and also push ourselves to make the podcast successful.

While juggling all of our work and trying to hit deadline, this class can get stressful. It requires personal accountability and responsibility to get all your stories completed, keeping in mind that other junior classes need attention as well. Looking past the time crunches and flexibility we all encountered, the people on this team made it all worth it. It doesn’t matter what’s going on in life or if someone is having a bad day, when you walk into Mrs. Basinger’s news room, the energy is impossible to ignore. Everyone always brings their best attitudes and hardest work ethic to class. Whether we’re celebrating each other’s lives during good news, or getting off topic sharing funny stories, there will always be laughter and positivity being spread throughout this class. I will forever be grateful for News Journalism for not only challenging me to think outside the box and be creative, but for introducing me to, in my opinion, some of the best people in the world to work with.

While this was my first year on staff, it’s not my last. I am beyond excited to see what stories next year brings and to laugh another day with the staff.