Journeylism

Trystan Hurst

Editor

I remember entering high school as a terrified, wide-eyed freshman and basically as naïve as can be. My first class was on the “big kid” campus in A building, my first writing class. I took creative writing with a teacher who moved away, and to this day is still one of the best classes I have taken. I always had a knack for writing but the freedom I experienced in that class made me open up more and develop as a writer. The editor of journalism then was also in the class and suggested I try to get into the class.

Being a selective process, I was afraid of rejection. The advisor of journalism that year was Sarah Geyer, who accepted me into the class and basically made my high school career. Geyer was the most influential person in my two years of journalism I spent with her until she moved to Nashville right before my junior year. Being accepted into journalism began my real passion for writing and allowed me to broaden my horizon of it.

The journalism program has changed gradually since I entered the class, like being elected Editor for example. I had only ever imagined and hoped for the role of editor, but actually achieving it made me gain a tad bit more confidence in my writing. The advisor of the class has changed, the style of the “newspaper” changed and the people changed. I met most of my closest friends in this class and now almost none of these faces were here when I began. It makes me feel old and is a wake up call.

The very fact that this is technically my last story for the journalism class is bittersweet because it makes me realize it is finally all coming to an end. Journalism was always the class I looked forward to and a perfect way to end the school day. I know that it is going to be so different once I am in college and will no longer be involved in this program. College journalism classes will be made up of entirely new faces and will be a different curriculum, which I will have to adapt to. I haven’t even left this class yet and I am already missing it.