I’ve been reporting since I was a freshman- I was a young anxious kid that signed up for the class because a summer camp sparked my interest for journalism. 

I sat and I listened and found that I loved to write stories and report on events that were happening in the world. Those stories ranging from features to news to opinions. 

In the course of the year, I wrote 14 stories, and I haven’t stopped now as a junior. 

Writing became a platform to cope with everything that was going on in the world. If someone died and I was down about it, I wrote a story about it. If there was just something I didn’t understand, I researched and wrote a story about it. 

And even though I am nearing the end, every single story I write becomes a part of me, and it pushes me to keep moving forward. 

Every year I have had the opportunity to share all of my classes in journalism with hard-working, motivated, and determined women that share the same drive as myself.

And now there I was, sitting in my publications classroom on Jan. 20 cheering on the swearing-in of the first woman Vice President of the United States 

There I was witnessing history, sitting with people that care about the things I care about in the world of journalism. 

Without journalism, we would just be Gen-Z kids that were nothing but students that liked to write. It gives me a voice like so many others. 

Bernie Sanders would never have become a meme and we never would have found out that his mittens were made from recycled plastic made by an elementary school teacher, if not for journalism. 

We wouldn’t have been able to witness the amazing speeches and outfits that came out of the inauguration, or the joke that no one really saw Barron Trump leave the White House; if it wasn’t for journalism. 

Sure it might seem like such vague proclamations to make, but journalism is the foundation for the world around us, and I honestly can’t help but love it. 

And if I were to quote my publications teacher, Mr. Hall I would say, “Publications is life.” 

Everything has its problems indeed, but it gave this kid a voice.