When I walked into the journalism lab on the first day of school, I was clearly in a disarray, but, then again, so was The Raiders’ Digest. I was, after all, a dazed freshman. In retrospect, however, I realize that this probably was one of the most significant moments of my high school career - it was the day I found a passion, but, most importantly, it was the day I found a home.
My school newspaper, on that day and for many days prior, had been in a state of deterioration, slowly regressing in terms of content, resources, and, primarily, interest. It came to represent to me just a small part of what Stuart High School was becoming as a whole:, a place of apathy. I cannot say that in my four years of high school I changed this culture for
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I’ve always thought of myself as a bit of an overexcited girl, overly enthusiastic about things no one around me really careds about - classic literature, the D.C. pandas, the possibility of 11 dimensions, to name just a few. I pour this energy into journalism in a way I have never done for any other class. Now, as the managing editor, I can look back at the experience and wonder where the time has gone. I’ve organized fundraisers when we were continually refused publication money, led class tutorials on Photoshop and InDesign, met with local papers, recruited new members, and made it a goal to write out the Stuart stories that went largely unheard - those of refugee students, fascinating teachers, and the struggle of our ESOL students. Hearing my peers stop me in the hallway to comment on the quality of our paper have always been my proudest moments. Journalism has given me the leadership, teamwork, and technology skills to start my own clubs at Stuart, develop new interests, and broaden my horizons just a little bit more every year. Before, I was attracted to the moral disposition of journalism; I admired the pledge of honesty, the search for accuracy, and the constant quest to turn powerful words into powerful actions. With time, The Raiders’ Digest has provided me with the skills and the mindset to actually accomplish these goals. These concepts are no longer viewed in