If I’m being honest, I took Journalism because it was either that or choir. However, I’m very glad I got to take Journalism.

In the beginning, I was a bit nervous for this class, mostly because I am not good at writing. But I very quickly learned that Journalism wasn’t just writing essays like I thought it was. In fact, you don’t write essays, you produce articles. This was all new to me also. I’ve never taken a class that was built around a whole staff. I really enjoyed that part and even sometimes it didn’t feel like I was doing an elective. Something else I really enjoyed was the fact that we were writing about things that are actually interesting. Usually in an English class, you write essays on a book you read or something like that, but in Journalism I got to write about things that I was interested in, which made the experience ten times better. And I’m not very good at writing, however taking journalism has definitely helped improve my writing skills.

Now besides all the aspects of Journalism, another thing that really made me enjoy the class was definitely Ms. Newray’s compassion and sympathy. She’s a very understanding person and someone who genuinely wants to see you succeed. This was for sure one of the hardest school years due to the pandemic, but Ms. Newray’s dedication and hard work really made the year better, honestly. 

Now why would people want to take Journalism? Well besides the amazing teacher, the fact that students get to write about things that they are interested in is a big factor in my opinion. If a student has interest in something then that gives them more motivation to complete it. I think another thing that is really important is the layout of the class. Students get to learn and experience what it’s like to work on a staff or team. Experiencing that will be very beneficial in future jobs and education. At least for me, taking this class has helped me make big improvements on my writing skills, which is also very helpful for future education. I would definitely take this elective again, unfortunately it won’t this next year because I don’t have room for any electives, but for sure in the future I would love to take Journalism again. And I would get to experience it in person.