My biggest contribution to journalism this year have been my feature stories, throughout the year I wrote a total of four feature stories that I ended up being really proud of! The process of writing these stories helped me grow as a journalist in so many ways, from getting to understand the transitional quote method to learning how to effectively gather evidence and conduct interviews. I would say the feature story style is what has transformed me into the journalist I am today. That’s not all, this past year I experimented with a few different types of journalism which were photography, videography, and personal opinion essays. Besides the feature stories, I think my second favorite type of journalism is opinion essays because who doesn’t love getting to tell other people what you think. Especially since in opinion writing you get to back up your thoughts with physical evidence, so in the process of writing those essays I got to see why my opinion was right! Taking a long look at who I was as a journalist this year made me realize that I don’t think the physical work I created was my biggest contribution to the Quill Media’s mission. I would say the way I impacted the classes culture probably ended up making a bigger impact, because I was one of the people who actually respected the privilege of getting to be a part of something so expressive as journalism. I found that even the little things like staying until the end of the period, doing daily assignments, and talking during discussions and seminars made the time I spent in Journalism so much more worthwhile.
I even got to discover the impact journalism has on societies but also I witnessed first hand the way that journalism brings people together. Weather people agrees or disagrees with the journalism I created, it sparked conversation and I found that really beautiful. Especially since I was in the 7th hour class, which focused more on managing the Instagram, the Quill is a huge part of Animas High Schools culture. I really felt honored to have helped impact my schools nest in such a positive way. While I did only put Journalism as a second option on my application form for classes next year, I am still very interested in contributing to the Quill’s mission again next year. Whether I get put in the class or not, I am definitely going to see if I can take over the art zine that was created last year. Overall, I am just so excited to see where I go as a journalist, artist, and human being my senior year and I can definitely say that I am grateful for the lessons and skills that being a member of the Quill has taught me.