by Karina Correa | tech editor
After finalizing journalism 1, there were two pathways I could have taken; yearbook or newspaper. Yearbook seemed like an easy choice because I already had experience with it during middle school. However, newspaper looked like an interesting option since it was a new concept to me and I assumed it involved more writing than yearbook, which is what I wanted.
I started with Newspaper 1 my sophomore year during the pandemic, which introduced a whole different concept to what I thought it was. The first day of online school started with newspaper and the song “Everybody Wants to Rule the World.” Mrs. Jewett had created a Spotify playlist to play before the class started. That song always takes me back to when I started my journalism route. With only 13 students and online interviews, the class was a breeze. I remember emailing teachers and students the questions and them replying around two days later.
My first interview was with Mr. Comalander, whom I interviewed through Zoom. Afterward, I only did email interviews because my camera stopped working (W camera). I was glad I didn’t have to ask people questions through Zoom. Everyone and everything was online so I always got my work done pretty fast. I would copy people’s responses (quotes) and paste them into my document. Newspaper was so easy I could miss class and still do my work with my eyes closed.
All of this changed during my junior year. People would be back on campus, which meant interviews would be now in person, IN PERSON. Quarantine messed up my social skills, obviously the fact of interviewing in person made me panic. The first ones I did were with APs and teachers, which didn’t bother me a lot, but when it was time to interview students that’s when everything went downhill. I had someone else go into the classroom and get the student for me, then I’d interview them. Going in and interrupting multiple classes was annoying and terrifying. The moment I opened the door everyone would turn back and look at me. Other times I would interview them through text, which wasn’t allowed in class. With only eight people that year we had to work quickly and everyone had slightly more work because of the shortage of students in newspaper. I went on interviewing through social media because it was the easiest, but Mrs. Jewett caught on. She told me I had to go in person and pushed me to it slowly. By the end of my junior year, I kinda got the hang of it, it wasn’t perfect, but at least I was better than how I started.
Senior year came quicker than I thought. Now we had six people on the team, but hey, at least we got food every Friday until February. With only six people that again meant slightly more work for everyone. I quickly got used to interviewing and wouldn’t mind doing them, although they drained my social battery. I usually picked interviewing people at the office or teachers because they made me feel more comfortable. Freshmen and sophomores would be nervously laughing all the time. Juniors and seniors most of the time didn’t know what to say or gave me short quotes. Teachers and APs would give me any information I needed and made the interviews flow nicely. I remember interviewing some of the strictest APs and teachers and everyone was frightened for me each time I went to talk to them. To be honest, they were delightful, which confused many people. I enjoyed talking to many of the APs and teachers, strict or not. From Mr. Berg and Mrs. Moseley to Mrs. DuBose and Mr. Hall, every interview had its little thing, which I enjoyed. I remember talking to Mrs. Moseley a lot because of the interviews, so much she would even recognize me in the hallway.
I need to give more credit to newspaper class for helping me get out of my comfort zone. I have learned a lot from this class and watched it improve ever since 2020. Newspaper wasn’t the only class that made an impact on me. Physics with Mr. Shaw improved my communication skills and group work. Statistics with Mrs. Meriwether was a super chill class, she was caring and comprehensive; she helped me understand stats better. I experimented a lot with social media marketing with Dr. Rubel and was able to work with my competition skills. I still feel euphoric after winning first place in the simulation. French IV with Ms. Dantaux was pretty chill as well, the class was kinda rowdy, not going to lie, but I’m glad my teacher always left me in my space doing my work for the class. Last but not least, (believe it or not) my favorite class, English with Mr. Hall. I saw a good side in his class many people didn’t see. If you have been in his class, you know how he often talks about anecdotes, which is extremely interesting. I learned a lot from his stories. It wasn’t a typical English class, which I liked. He taught me so many lessons and made me feel comfortable with myself, I got to give him credit as well.
Going back to newspaper; even though I sometimes was annoyed by the interviews and the amount of work. It was a nice accomplishment at the end of the interviews and stories. I’m glad my writings are something that will remain on the MyJagNews website. Being the social media manager and graphic designer for that class was entertaining and helped with my experience. I liked writing for newspaper, but my job for this class is already done. I do plan on writing more in the future, it doesn’t end here, be on the lookout for my name! It was great while it lasted. I will remember all the memories created in A128. I wish you the best of luck, MyJagNews.
Signing out, Karina Correa <3
