Being a student journalist isn’t an easy thing. For me, it meant going out of my comfort zone, meeting new people, utilizing my photography skills and improving my writing.

I learned about how to conduct professional interviews and ask open-ended questions. I realized these skills will help me during interviews for jobs and in future journalism pieces I write. In the beginning of the year, we reviewed court cases that allow us to be the journalists we are today. The Tinker v Des Moines case was the most influential to me throughout the year. I haven’t used that ruling just in journalism, in fact, I’ve used it in my day to day life, knowing that I have the right to express my opinion to a certain extent.

Taking News Journalism was one of the best decisions of my senior year. I really had to push myself to get the story, which meant leaving the safety of the classroom and asking people I didn’t know for their story and opinion. It was so awkward for me at first, but through the year I really figured out how to make an interview comfortable for both the interviewee and myself.

To those joining this class next year, be prepared to have a lot of fun, meet new people, but most importantly to grow as a writer. You will learn what it really means to be credible and how to quote someone correctly.

On my final day here, I look back at all the weird, fun times we’ve shared as a class. Between Kinnick Sutton’s “The Cubs won the World Series” Good News every day, the weird music we played, the laughs caused by the Friday Flash, the brainstorm sessions, our calendar that got a little funky sometimes and our insane Sass Levels chart, I’ve had an amazing year. I’ll miss this room, the blankets, the computer that made me so mad but always ended up coming through.

I want to close with a thank you to the staff, the teacher and everybody who made this year of news possible.