Introducing one of my favorite classes, Journalism!
Journalism is different from every other class at San Marin in a lot of ways, but the most important one is the fact that it is almost entirely student-led. Of course, we need our illustrious teacher and mentor, Mr. MacLeod, to guide us along the way, but it is the one class where you will find students leading other students and helping each other to make something seen by the entire student body. The one thing that sets this class apart from the rest is how much you have to deal with the real world, whether it's deadlines, printing issues, or getting companies to buy spaces for advertisements, and the way it teaches you the value of responsibility and hard work in a hands-on method. As a paper, we cover a plethora of topics that affect our school in our issues, ranging from the district budget to mental health issues, and even topics that affect us on a national scale, such as politics and elections. Feel free to visit our website at smhsponyexpress.org! Make sure to take a look at some of the great articles written by any one of the amazing students in the class.
I first took the class in my sophomore year. As a J1, which just means a first-year journalism student, things were hectic at first. I was in a class which was made up of mainly juniors and seniors, and I think I only knew four or five other people in the class to begin with. However, as time went on, I got to know everybody far better, and I can say for certain that I've met people that I otherwise wouldn't have talked to or been in classes with. I started out as a reporter for the main issues, reporting on features like stand-out athletes, retiring principals, and bullying and by the end of the year, in the Colt Issue, I became the editor of the Features page, which was a bigger responsibility than I had before. For one, I was always working on something or the other in the class, whether it was writing my own article, editing someone else's, or putting the pages together. Luckily, I had one of the senior editors there to help me understand some of the principles of editing and the software we were using, and I only had to edit two pages.
In my junior year, I was a J2, or a second-year student, and a full time Features editor. Because of a few changes to the layout of the paper, I had four Features pages to edit instead of the two I had the previous year. The extra responsibility was somewhat stressful at first, but over time I got used to it and enjoyed playing such a large role in the paper. As was the case the previous year, there were a whole lot of new sophomores in the class who I hadn't talked to much before. But over the course of the year, I had the opportunity to talk with a lot of them and made a number of good friends. Some of them love to be distracting, and they know exactly who they are, but overall it was a great experience in a class where I always enjoy myself. At the end of the year, in the Colt Issue, I was one of the Editors-in-Chief, along with my friend Liz, whose website you can see here. It was something that, at first, we weren't really prepared for. We had to lead the class every day, outlining the plan for the day to the entire class at the beginning of each class, and read through most, if not all, of the articles in the paper and edit them. But after getting off to a slow start, we both got into our comfort zone, and I know for sure that we're looking forward to being the Editor-in-Chiefs next year.
Finally, senior year. The big one. Seven issues as one of the two Editors-in-Chief of the paper, handling a class of 24 other students and trying to figure out solutions to problems that aren't always in our control. Sounds fun, right? So far, it's been a blast, and I never thought having so much responsibility could be as fun as it is right now. Unlike the Colt Issue of the previous year, where Liz and I were also Editors-in-Chief, we didn't have as much time on our hands to guide the new editors through the intricacies of InDesign, our primary software for designing pages. As a result, our first issue of the year was frantic, but we were still able to pull through and put out a paper that we're proud of. Being an Editor-in-Chief this year brings forth a whole new series of challenges versus just editing one section last year, primarily the fact that the workload is quite larger. Instead of copy-editing Features alone, I now look at News, Features, Opinion, Centerspread, Arts and Culture, and Sports, and instead of spending three days an issue after school working on the paper, I now spend at least three times as many days working until 6 P.M. I've used it as a way to get more involved with every part of the paper. My favorite part of the new job, however, has been the fact that I lead the class, and am always teaching the editors something new. If I had to describe the new role in one word, it'd be that I'm a mentor, helping the new editors and reporters find a way to contribute towards putting out a paper read by thousands that we are all proud of. These three years have thoroughly reinforced my desire to be a part of the school publication in college, and maybe even beyond that, and it's helped me grow considerably as an individual.
I first took the class in my sophomore year. As a J1, which just means a first-year journalism student, things were hectic at first. I was in a class which was made up of mainly juniors and seniors, and I think I only knew four or five other people in the class to begin with. However, as time went on, I got to know everybody far better, and I can say for certain that I've met people that I otherwise wouldn't have talked to or been in classes with. I started out as a reporter for the main issues, reporting on features like stand-out athletes, retiring principals, and bullying and by the end of the year, in the Colt Issue, I became the editor of the Features page, which was a bigger responsibility than I had before. For one, I was always working on something or the other in the class, whether it was writing my own article, editing someone else's, or putting the pages together. Luckily, I had one of the senior editors there to help me understand some of the principles of editing and the software we were using, and I only had to edit two pages.
In my junior year, I was a J2, or a second-year student, and a full time Features editor. Because of a few changes to the layout of the paper, I had four Features pages to edit instead of the two I had the previous year. The extra responsibility was somewhat stressful at first, but over time I got used to it and enjoyed playing such a large role in the paper. As was the case the previous year, there were a whole lot of new sophomores in the class who I hadn't talked to much before. But over the course of the year, I had the opportunity to talk with a lot of them and made a number of good friends. Some of them love to be distracting, and they know exactly who they are, but overall it was a great experience in a class where I always enjoy myself. At the end of the year, in the Colt Issue, I was one of the Editors-in-Chief, along with my friend Liz, whose website you can see here. It was something that, at first, we weren't really prepared for. We had to lead the class every day, outlining the plan for the day to the entire class at the beginning of each class, and read through most, if not all, of the articles in the paper and edit them. But after getting off to a slow start, we both got into our comfort zone, and I know for sure that we're looking forward to being the Editor-in-Chiefs next year.
Finally, senior year. The big one. Seven issues as one of the two Editors-in-Chief of the paper, handling a class of 24 other students and trying to figure out solutions to problems that aren't always in our control. Sounds fun, right? So far, it's been a blast, and I never thought having so much responsibility could be as fun as it is right now. Unlike the Colt Issue of the previous year, where Liz and I were also Editors-in-Chief, we didn't have as much time on our hands to guide the new editors through the intricacies of InDesign, our primary software for designing pages. As a result, our first issue of the year was frantic, but we were still able to pull through and put out a paper that we're proud of. Being an Editor-in-Chief this year brings forth a whole new series of challenges versus just editing one section last year, primarily the fact that the workload is quite larger. Instead of copy-editing Features alone, I now look at News, Features, Opinion, Centerspread, Arts and Culture, and Sports, and instead of spending three days an issue after school working on the paper, I now spend at least three times as many days working until 6 P.M. I've used it as a way to get more involved with every part of the paper. My favorite part of the new job, however, has been the fact that I lead the class, and am always teaching the editors something new. If I had to describe the new role in one word, it'd be that I'm a mentor, helping the new editors and reporters find a way to contribute towards putting out a paper read by thousands that we are all proud of. These three years have thoroughly reinforced my desire to be a part of the school publication in college, and maybe even beyond that, and it's helped me grow considerably as an individual.