When I started my career as a student journalist, I was scared of what I would have to do, and I also hated talking to people whom I did not know that well. As the year went on, I realized that the more stories I told, the more I enjoyed learning about the people in the school community. The community of the staff was great, too. Most of the people in this room I knew from other classes, but being in this class with them made me realize how unique and great the ideas each of them brings to any conversation, whether serious or fun; they had great things to say.
While being in this class, I got to learn many things about myself, too. I learned that I love to write in this class. I hated writing when we had to write about the topics the teacher assigned. When I got to this class, I realized that I loved to write about the topics that I chose. In our first planning session, I was surprised that most of the topics that we make stories on are topics that the people in this class give. After that, I started to love this class. Most of the other classes, I could not feel the connection, so I struggled to like the class because of the community. In this class, it felt more like a family then I class. This was the first class where I felt that we did not have to pretend that we enjoyed the class, but we did.
In class, we have these activities that we do that are supposed to take time out of the ongoing routine and have some fun with the people who are on staff with us. Those activities are there to be fun and to learn lessons, too. I learned many great lessons from this class, like it is important to tell the stories that are important rather than telling the stories that you are comfortable with telling. Our adviser makes us think every time we are planning a story to pitch stories that are important to tell. This has taught me to think about events that are relevant to the school and me before I pitch a fun story.
One lesson that I learned was how to stay positive in stressful situations. In News, we have stories that we have to finish in a class period. During those times, the whole staff is stressed because there are many elements that we have to do to make the story a good story. News has taught me how to stay calm and how to be productive with the time that we are given. That has helped me be the best version of myself in other classes, too.
News allows people like me to tell their stories. We have good news to start the day every day. Good news allows me to tell my story in the midst of telling others’ stories. This made me learn that it is important to tell your story while you are telling others’ stories.
I learned in this class how important it is to work together. I realized how fun it is to work with the people around you.
