I sharply pulled down on each of my backpack straps. As the bag moved up and squeezed my back, some of my stress was relieved. I picked up my head, hoping to find a familiar face in my freshman introduction to journalism classroom, but none had arrived yet. In a quick, poorly thought out decision, I grabbed the chair closest to the teacher. She looked nice enough. As we waited for the rest of the class to arrive, I said nothing. A few friends finally came into the room, but they sat as far away from the teacher as possible. I didn’t know the kid who sat next to me. He seemed nice to me seemed nice, but I was too timid to talk to him.
At the end of that first semester class, I was assigned a project to create a profile on one student from the school. I, the same kid who wouldn’t talk to the person next to me in class, now had to find a stranger and interview them. I was too scared to approach anyone.
As I blankly stared across the cafeteria, looking for someone to interview, an upperclassman approached me asking if I needed help. I explained the project, and to my surprise, she was thrilled to assist. The next day, I came prepared with questions and started a very awkward interview. Towards the end, she convinced me to put down my notes and just have a conversation. From that point on, it went great. I felt relieved and excited about how smoothly I just talked to a complete stranger.
The spring of that year, I decided to stick with the program and enroll in our school’s print class. This time, I created bonds with my classmates. They couldn’t have been more important as we restarted the school newspaper.
In the class, I talked to many different people for my articles. Each interview was better than the last as I became more and more comfortable. Now, I can go up to anyone in my school, whether I’m working on an article or not, and have a conversation.
During registration for classes the next year, my counselors informed me that journalism would not fit into my schedule. I felt crushed. I finally found an outlet to express myself, and it was taken away. I ran through the school searching for my buddies from the newspaper staff. To our dismay, they also could not fit the class in their schedule. Rather than let this stop us, we took the opportunity to grow the newspaper into a club and invite more people.
Over the summer, we had meetings where I shared ideas on how we would move forward as a team. My peers and advisor liked my ideas so much that I was named a co-editor. This position has fueled my passion and encouraged me to become a leader on the staff.
As I continued to improve my writing each year, I also wanted to find other ways to express myself. I wanted to broadcast live sports events. This year, I finally had my opportunity.
My advisor told us to show up at two for an evening football game. I chuckled to myself. I thought surely, it couldn’t take that long to set up. It did though. None of us knew anything about how the switcher worked or how to set up the livestream. The only way to do it was to break the problem into smaller steps. Additionally, we discussed a plan for during the game because no one had ever done a live stream before. I led the meeting drawing ideas up on a whiteboard, pulling everyone onto the same page. Finally, we were ready on the field just in time for kickoff. Throughout that first game I had to continue fast problem solving and thinking on my feet.
We rotate our crews for every game. I stay on to teach new members how everything works. I lead our pregame discussions and facilitate making a plan. The live streams are some of our organizations most watched content, and I’m proud that I work on them.
With journalism, I’ve had the opportunity to talk to countless people in the school. Even when I am not working on a story, I now have the confidence to have a conversation with strangers and feel more involved in my community. Additionally I’ve learned leadership, communication, and problem solving skills that I couldn’t have received anywhere else.