Being unique and how to conquer high school By Erick L. Wood
I am a different person than the kid who entered Blackfoot High School no more than four years ago. That kid was quiet, shy, and scared, but through my high school experience I have learned a few things about myself. I am unique. I am slightly nerdy, outgoing, smart, and sometimes kind and sometimes mean, but most importantly, I am self-aware of these things. I understand that I have changed for the better throughout my high school experience and I owe it all to the classes I took, the clubs I was involved with, and the people I met along the way. Above all, however, I owe the person I am today to one inanimate object. The one thing that when I look back at the high school in fifty years, will still be what I call mine; The BroncWriter.
I never knew my love for writing when I stepped into that journalism class freshman year. I knew I enjoyed telling stories and gathering information, but I never understood the cliché I would live as I fell in love with the people, the style, and the pages that were printed in news ink.
In my journalism career I have written 114 articles, been published by three newspapers, designed numerous yearbook spreads and news-page layouts, and have received awards at both the state and national level in journalism.
One thing I have come to understand is that journalism is a lifestyle, something that an individual must be ready to commit their life to and swear by the ethics that come along with it. In fact, it's still the biggest reason I stumble over simple convention errors in my writing as I try to get a handle on both Associated Press style and MLA format. It's the reason I miss classes and cancel plans so that I can focus more clearly on perfecting the next issue.
At the end of these four years, it's my biggest accomplishment and it's the one thing that I plan to take with me as I go out and conquer the world. Not only the physical copies of the newspaper, but also the ideas behind it and the memories that have come from creating it.
Some of my best friends are the fellow newsies that are on my staff, and some of the biggest lessons I learned, come from watching them. My biggest influence throughout the past four years has been a second mother to me. That journalism adviser is the one person above my parents who I know I can talk to and she will tell me the honest truth. She has never been afraid to say that what I was doing was stupid or could be done better and she has helped me and my writing grow tremendously.
My writing has been my art and the newspaper has been my child for years now, always growing, changing, and becoming better.
From my first time writing to now I have learned so much about the kind of writer I am and correct journalistic style. It's a funny process how I have discovered myself and my own differences. It was my sophomore year that I became a staff member on the school newspaper, and on the first day of school I came with two articles already written.
I was unique, “the entertainment guy,” “the Overachiever,” “the kid who could write a review almost entirely before seeing the movie;” and after a year of writing and an exciting trip to Nationals in San Francisco I was ready to be more than just that.
I went on to become the Editor-In-Chief of The BroncWriter and furthered my work in student leadership, National Honors Society, President of the Comic Book Club, Yearbook, and create my own impression on the high school with my own publication, The Stampede, Blackfoot High School's literary magazine.
The biggest impact on me in these four years has been discovering that everyone is unique. The newspaper staff has always been The Breakfast Club of the school. We have the student body president, the athletes, the quiet kids, the wallflowers and everything in between.
Because of all the people I have met these four years I have changed. I've taken a piece of each person I've met within those years and molded myself. The classes and clubs I have been a part of have shaped my personality. But I still do know one thing, and that is if there is a little bit of romance in my novels, I will not be putting the book down in the foreseeable future, and now that my high school experience is coming to an end, I'm not ready one bit for it to be over, but I know where my life is heading once it is.
I never knew my love for writing when I stepped into that journalism class freshman year. I knew I enjoyed telling stories and gathering information, but I never understood the cliché I would live as I fell in love with the people, the style, and the pages that were printed in news ink.
In my journalism career I have written 114 articles, been published by three newspapers, designed numerous yearbook spreads and news-page layouts, and have received awards at both the state and national level in journalism.
One thing I have come to understand is that journalism is a lifestyle, something that an individual must be ready to commit their life to and swear by the ethics that come along with it. In fact, it's still the biggest reason I stumble over simple convention errors in my writing as I try to get a handle on both Associated Press style and MLA format. It's the reason I miss classes and cancel plans so that I can focus more clearly on perfecting the next issue.
At the end of these four years, it's my biggest accomplishment and it's the one thing that I plan to take with me as I go out and conquer the world. Not only the physical copies of the newspaper, but also the ideas behind it and the memories that have come from creating it.
Some of my best friends are the fellow newsies that are on my staff, and some of the biggest lessons I learned, come from watching them. My biggest influence throughout the past four years has been a second mother to me. That journalism adviser is the one person above my parents who I know I can talk to and she will tell me the honest truth. She has never been afraid to say that what I was doing was stupid or could be done better and she has helped me and my writing grow tremendously.
My writing has been my art and the newspaper has been my child for years now, always growing, changing, and becoming better.
From my first time writing to now I have learned so much about the kind of writer I am and correct journalistic style. It's a funny process how I have discovered myself and my own differences. It was my sophomore year that I became a staff member on the school newspaper, and on the first day of school I came with two articles already written.
I was unique, “the entertainment guy,” “the Overachiever,” “the kid who could write a review almost entirely before seeing the movie;” and after a year of writing and an exciting trip to Nationals in San Francisco I was ready to be more than just that.
I went on to become the Editor-In-Chief of The BroncWriter and furthered my work in student leadership, National Honors Society, President of the Comic Book Club, Yearbook, and create my own impression on the high school with my own publication, The Stampede, Blackfoot High School's literary magazine.
The biggest impact on me in these four years has been discovering that everyone is unique. The newspaper staff has always been The Breakfast Club of the school. We have the student body president, the athletes, the quiet kids, the wallflowers and everything in between.
Because of all the people I have met these four years I have changed. I've taken a piece of each person I've met within those years and molded myself. The classes and clubs I have been a part of have shaped my personality. But I still do know one thing, and that is if there is a little bit of romance in my novels, I will not be putting the book down in the foreseeable future, and now that my high school experience is coming to an end, I'm not ready one bit for it to be over, but I know where my life is heading once it is.