Since my freshman year, I’ve been heavily involved with journalism class. It’s been a constant in my life throughout the crazy whirlwind of change that is high school. My entire life has revolved around the act of writing; in moments of both extreme joy and crushing sadness, I’ve always had a pen or keyboard to fall back on. Journalism class facilitated this driving need of mine as well as gave me an audience to share ideas and thoughts with. Signing up for this class was one of the best choices I’ve ever made in academia.
Despite the stability journalism offered, it, too, was ever evolving. That was something really charming about newspaper: although it is essentially the same, the details change so much. During ninth and tenth grade, I noticed how many struggles our editor, Josh, had to cope with. There were always claustrophobic deadlines, staff members that lacked motivation, and all sorts of variables he could not control; however, he was incredibly resilient and able to pull together a varied and interesting edition of the paper every time. Watching Josh work really inspired me to write more intelligently and thoughtfully. When Josh graduated, another staff member and I were left holding the reins. My eleventh year was, in a word, tumultuous…and not just for me. Personal drama spilled into the classroom as over half the staff withdrew before that January, and I was left the sole editor. I think we only pulled together two editions of the paper that year, but in hindsight, we didn’t do too terrible of a job at all– especially when you consider what we were up against.
Even this year, our little class has mutated and grown exponentially. Ms Ross, who had served as the advisor since I joined the class, retired and was replaced by Mrs Daniel. Mrs Daniel has been completely incredible and willing to help in any way possible; I’m so completely thankful for her and her patience. For the first time since I’ve been on the staff, we actually had not one but TWO reporters that enjoyed writing sports articles (in years past, getting sports articles written was not unlike pulling teeth from unwilling patients). Kara and I were the only returning staff members, but we were able to get everyone to band together and put forth our last print edition of the Here’s How. While it was sort of sad to put the layout sheets and glue sticks aside, it marked a major turning point. Since we’ve started publishing online, our audience has extended. We’re able to publish articles as they’re written instead of waiting until they wither into old news. Going online was the best decision I think I could’ve made for the Here’s How to ensure its future.
After this Friday, May 29, I will be passing the editorial torch to two brilliant staff members: Kara Jarvis and Matthew Hardin. I have complete confidence in their abilities; I know that LHS will continue to have a reliable source of news into the next few years under them. My wish for them is that they will bring balance to each other and harmony to the staff. I will miss them and the rest of the class very dearly; this has truly been the best year of high school for me. I mean, whatever could have I done without Chelsey’s emphatic hee-haw laugh, or Kara’s crazy stories? I want to thank everyone at LHS for making my senior year truly memorable and enjoyable. I will look back at high school fondly for as long as I live! =)
Much love,
Autumn Grove