Next year, I will be finishing my high school journalism career as the editor-in-chief of the Burlingame High School newspaper, the Burlingame B. When I walked into the journalism class as a freshman, never in a million years would I have been able to predict how these past years in the journalism class would shape my high school experience and me as a person.
I decided to take the class because my sister told me I should. I knew nothing about journalism aside from reading articles in The New York Times with my dad. But it didn’t take me long after walking into that classroom for me to understand this was something I wanted to take seriously. That first year taught me how to be a better writer, but I found out that I loved to hear stories and capture moments. I remember covering girls’ lacrosse for the season, and watching the senior captain score the game-winning shot to send them into the playoffs. I wrote an article about a girl at my school winning a nationwide art award. I wrote about an annual Christmas celebration at Kohl’s Mansion.
The common theme in all of these stories is that I never would have witnessed them or talked to the people involved if I hadn’t been a journalist. In that first year, aside from the fundamental skills, I built a small community of people I could nod to in the halls or smile at, just because I knew a part of their story, and I was able to share that with people.
In my second year of the class, I learned to write the stories that didn’t have an obvious lede or direction, and also how to navigate difficult situations. This year was the first time I had to consider conflicts of interest in the stories I was writing, and how to weave quotes into articles skillfully, but without misconstruing meaning. That year, journalism taught me ethics.
As I became more integrated into the paper, it taught me how to be a team player and someone people could rely on. People may think it’s silly, but knowing your work is about more than you, and is representative of the paper, was a powerful lesson.
This past year, the journalism class has been an environment that has helped me become a leader among classmates who have become my community. The current editor-in-chief, Joelle Huysmans, has helped guide me every step of the way, calling me late at night to help edit social media posts. The other editors have always been there for me to answer questions or sit with me as I edited an article. They have taught me that presence matters in an effective leader. As I have run our social media accounts this year, or prepared to lead the class next year, I have always known in the back of my mind that as I work to improve, the seniors have my back.
As I prepare for my final year as a staffer at the Burlingame B, I feel so grateful for all that being a part of the publication has given me. Aside from the extremely important skills of writing, photography and interviewing, this class has provided me with a love for storytelling, community, ethics and leadership skills. To any incoming freshman or parents, I can’t recommend participation in newspaper during high school enough, because it has had a truly deep influence on my own experience.
Josie Wettan is a junior at Burlingame High School. Student News appears in the weekend edition. You can email Student News at news@smdailyjournal.com.
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Keep the discussion civilized. Absolutely NO personal attacks or insults directed toward writers, nor others who make comments.
Keep it clean. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd, racist or sexually-oriented language.
Don't threaten. Threats of harming another person will not be tolerated.
Be truthful. Don't knowingly lie about anyone or anything.
Be proactive. Use the 'Report' link on each comment to let us know of abusive posts.
PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK.
Anyone violating these rules will be issued a warning. After the warning, comment privileges can be revoked.