Nearing the end of sophomore year, I knew that I had my schedule planned out. I knew exactly what classes I was taking, and I would finally have more than a few weeks of an open period. That was until I was sitting in Honors English with Mrs. Longman when I got a letter that I was being scouted to join a journalism class. Now, I didn’t even know that this was an option for a class that I could take, but they wanted me? I immediately had to ask some of my friends if they had gotten one too, and some of them did. When I read the description, it sounded kind of interesting, so I thought that I would just check it out, and think about applying. For the rest of the week, I was thinking about what journalism was, did they just cover sports? I had no idea, but I couldn’t get it off my mind. So I applied. Looking back at it now, those opens would have never been worth what I have now, which is a community.
On the first day of journalism, Mrs. Basinger wasted no time and threw us at the Toilet Paper. That being my first day, I had absolutely no idea what I was doing, so I asked the people around me. Unfortunately, those people were also new, and also had no idea what they were doing either. However, a few of my mutual friends had been on staff the year prior, and helped me get started. That’s the first time I thought, “what did I just get myself into?” That was also when I learned that there was no way that I could get through this journalism class without asking for help, and that I could ask the people around me any question, and they would answer it.
In journalism, there are so many different kind of people. People from different cliques, but all students just the same. And we all had one Wildly Important Goal, getting News Team of the Year. At the beginning of the year, I thought that that goal was literally impossible, something that we could never reach. However, recently, the IHPSA spring contest was revealed. Black & Redgister is one of the finalists. I seriously could not believe it, and our publication alone won 28 awards for the work that we have created throughout the year. Not all of it was just one person. It was from different people in our entire staff. The awards that we earned were from working together, because nobody alone could have made any of their stories.
Making connections is what makes being in journalism beautiful. The amount of people that you get to meet in one year is really crazy, and getting to practice the skills you learn in that time is what makes you a better journalist, a better writer, and also allows you to be proud of the work that you have created.
Looking back on this past year in journalism, I’ve learned more things than I could count. But one of the most important ones that I learned was building a sense of community. There is nobody on this publication that I would refuse to work with, because I know that they are more than capable than helping me with whatever I need. This publication had grown so much in the past year, and I am so excited to be able to be a part of it again next year.
