High school journalism: My stepping stone for the future.
Today, I got a yearbook.
Yeah, it was beautiful, and yeah, it smelled REALLY good, but there was a sort of happiness and energy that went along with it. This time, I helped to complete the yearbook.
How surreal is that?
I mean, opening a page to see some of my work and layout ideas and pictures in the book really gave me a warm fuzzy feeling inside. Sure, there were plenty of mistakes and grammatical errors and complaints (sorry once again, Annie), but the feeling was still there. I savored it as much as I could by flipping through the pages, signing others' books, and of course, putting my nose into the pages and taking a huge whiff.
Being a part of things always makes it better when the product is completed and looking great. Being on two publishing staffs and getting layouts and artwork churned out to the appreciative student population always makes me feel great.
I remember once walking into a classroom one day during second to distribute the newspaper. The students were rambunctious and I could barely hear anything other than chatter, but as soon as I walked about five feet into the room, decked out in my journalism shirt and cardigan, the classroom went silent. There were whispers and points, "It's the school Scroll!", and even as I went up to the teacher to hand him the stack of freshly printed newspapers, there was a lot of anticipation in the air (I felt it. It was crackling).
Of course, I cannot thank the programs more for opening my horizons and allowing me to experience something totally unique. I can also thank them for giving me some of the most real friendships and lasting memories. My high school journalism career isn't even over, and I can already tell that it will stick with me for years to come.
There's a reason I take pride in wearing my cardigan every three weeks. There's a reason I chastise April Fool's issues of newspapers. There's a reason I'm completely anal about style rules. There's a reason that I want to be an editorial cartoonist when I get out of college. There's a reason that I don't like papers that don't have cartoons or use them badly.
It's because I take pride in journalism because it's the one thing I'm slightly talented at, and I expect every other student journalist to.
Write on.
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