When I walked into the classroom I had no idea what to expect. New faces, new ideas and a new found passion were the only things I could see. We began our brainstorming meeting, one of many we would hold this year, and got assigned our first stories. The first hour and a half of my newspaper career ended. That first hour and a half has turned into more than I can count. Hours spent after school and on the weekends all added up to equal one of the most beneficial learning experiences I’ve ever had. Out of everything I’ve learned in newspaper this year, the three most important things (in no particular order) include:

1.) Respect

Having to answer to a group of editors has taught me respect on so many different levels. I’ve learned to respect their opinion on my writing, to accept their criticism without attitude and even to keep my mouth shut when all I want to do is argue. I thank and look up to each and every editor on staff this year.

2.) Responsibility

This year has showed me the importance of keeping up with my corrections, quotes and deadlines. I learned to stay on top of things and, believe it or not, increased my level of organization. Keeping up with everything took a great deal of effort but when I eventually got the hang of it I managed to keep a good hold on the stories I did.

3.) Thankfulness

Out of all the things I learned, thankfulness was definitely one of the most important. Being in newspaper taught me to be thankful for the great friends I made in the class and the support they give me and each other. It taught me to be thankful for my parents and their tolerance of my stress and bad attitude and also to be thankful for friends that drive. I’m thankful for all the editors that taught me how to be a better writer and reporter and thankful to Mallett for inspiring me to become a journalism advisor in the future.

I learned many lessons this year but the aforementioned three will be the ones to carry me the furthest.