Four years of high school. Three years of newspaper. Eight semesters of classes. Five semesters of newspaper class. I didn’t know Athens had a newspaper until the end of my freshman year when I was able to register for the next year’s classes. My mom was a journalism major, and it was always something I’d wanted to try, but I thought it was an extracurricular, not a class I could take. My newspaper journey started the second semester of my sophomore year under our then-editor-in-chief Amena Matcheswala, who now writes for the Daily Tar Heel at UNC Chapel Hill. From the moment I stepped foot in the class, I was hooked. When we started picking topics for that first article, I was asked what I was passionate about. I was still on the student government board then, and incredibly frustrated by our lack of action. Usually, we don’t let new students write editorials. They’re a little harder, and it sets up bad expectations of the structure of articles. However, I was confident in my abilities, and I’m so glad our teacher, Patricia Hornick, put that same faith in me. My first article, “Student Government representatives struggle for power”, continues to be my most-read article. That article not only made the change within the administration for students on the Student Government have more effect on the events they put on throughout the year, but helped a campaign of students who were trying to move the prom date that year out of the time period when Ramadan is observed.
Editorials continue to be one of my favorites to write. I was elected the Editorials Assistant editor in my junior year, allowing me to focus on editorials more than any genre. Today I have now written 12 editorials, making up almost one-third of my 26 articles to date. I also love writing feature articles, because I love shining a spotlight on students and teachers who may not get the recognition otherwise. The only genre I don’t write about is sports (unless you count the dodgeball article three years ago). This class has given me the opportunity to dive deeper into many topics I’m passionate about and share them with the world. From the sims, to senate bills, and even a stingray undergoing parthenogenesis, there’s few topics I skip over.
The atmosphere in the newspaper room is nothing like any class I’ve taken before. The newspaper teacher, Hornick, has a unique style of running the class that is more like a real newspaper than a classroom. There are spreadsheets, press passes, and brainstorming meetings. She is very encouraging of writing about what you’re passionate about, even if it may be silly to others. I’ve never had a single article idea turned down, even if it’s a trivia movie review. Every experience counts. The hosting website for our articles, School Newspapers Online (SNO), has special badges to work towards. Earning all six is difficult, but our team has achieved it two years in a row. One of my own articles helped us get there this fall, earning a “Best of SNO” title. I’m so proud of our team for the hard work we’ve all put in to earn the Distinguished Site title. At the end of the year, we go around classes, trying to motivate freshmen to join. It is the most passionate I ever hear other students talk about a class. The atmosphere is so relaxing, there is little room for stress (unless you’re late for an article). If I could go back in time and join earlier than I did, I would take every chance to. The class is close-knit and lighthearted.
I’ll be sad to leave. Next year I’m off to UNC Charlotte, and while I’m studying Psychology and not journalism, I still hope to work with their campus paper, the Niner Times. The paper puts out plenty of great articles I keep up with, and I‘m hoping to become a part of the team making such great articles. I’ll miss our newspaper class, working through badges, but I’ll never forget how passionate I was and am about journalism because of the foundations I’ve had for it in newspaper.