When I was growing up, I was never particularly interested in coming of age stories. It wasn’t until I found myself in the midst of one that they began to truly resonate with me. High school has been a revolutionary experience for me, and I have changed more than my middle school self ever thought I would have. Along with discovering so much more about myself, including what I truly love to do, my personal ideologies and philosophy, and aspects of myself that I didn’t even know existed before the last couple of years, I have found that I have become someone I am actually proud of – something I couldn’t say for a very long time.

In many ways, Journalism encapsulates the feelings of pride I have found in myself. When I was younger, I always daydreamed about writing and stories, but it wasn’t until high school that I actually started to write and make stories of my own. In my first year of Journalism, my skills in non-fiction writing drastically increased as I learned how to communicate effectively and, though I still struggle with this element, concisely. As an editor this year, I feel that I have been able to both practice my skills even more and realize how far I have come.

More importantly than my experiences in writing, though, has been the relationships I have built through Journalism. Throughout the last four years, I have become incredibly close with many of my closest friends, to the point where I call family; however, what I didn’t expect was that I would end up calling one of my family members my closest friend. More than anything else, I want to thank Kalyn for being the best little sister I could ask for. While we had – differences – for most of our childhood, I am so glad that I was able to build a stronger relationship with you during high school; we bonded through car rides, our first year in Journalism, tea time, and all those other little moments, and I couldn’t be more happy about it. If it wasn’t for you, I never would have taken Journalism this year – in fact, Journalism wasn’t even one of the top classes on my elective list this year. You’ve made it an amazingly fun and fulfilling experience though, and I can say that, in hindsight, this class was the best elective I could have taken this year.

I also want to thank the other editors, Theo and Carsten. Theo is one of the most interesting people I have ever met, and someone who is able to bring humor to any situation. Carsten is incredibly intelligent and maybe, just maybe, a better (non-fiction) writer than I am. He is easily one of my favorite juniors and favorite people in general, and I look forward to hearing about how he continues as Editor-in-Chief. Lastly, I want to thank Mr. Wolf for enabling the editing team to do what we have done this year. He has been incredibly understanding, great at communication, and has always created a relaxed and pleasant environment in his class.

Journalism isn’t an experience I expected to enjoy, or one I expected to have in general, but it has become one of my favorite parts of this year. I will never forget this class and everyone I have worked with. If you ever need an interview for an article or a guest speaker for a future year, you know where you can find me.