Full of new challenges, my junior year on The Feather has rewarded me with greater experience as a leader and a multi-faceted journalist.
Although I thoroughly enjoyed focusing on photography last year, I engaged in writing articles and creating infographics for my third year on The Feather. I also took on the position of Creative Editor. This meant I helped others improve their infographics, as well as created my own.
Despite not being a full-time photographer, I still contributed to The Feather Instagram by posting the Feather Feed. It is a weekly bulletin that includes sports, announcements and fun facts. I also created infographics for special events or holidays.
The highlight of my year by far was the LA trip. Along with four other journalists and our adviser, we attended the NSPA National High School Journalism Conference and went to Disneyland. It was an excellent way to bond and learn more about the world of journalism.
However, we also faced many challenges. For the majority of the year one of our advisers, Greg Stobbe, was unable to be in class. This put pressure on our sole adviser, Kori James, to instruct new journalists and ensure students were on track to publish their work, while still teaching multiple history classes. With no editor-in-chief this year, veteran students like me had to step up by editing articles and teaching.
A personal challenge I overcame this year was my fear of public speaking. I took on this fear by giving a presentation on creating infographics to my class. Later in the year, I spoke about the same subject in a session at the journalism conference. Speaking in front of complete strangers was nerve-racking, but I gained a new confidence.
My vision for next year is that our team will have greater togetherness. With a year of experience under the belts of our young team, I’m hoping there can be a better share of the workload, with journalists moving quicker through their articles.
Personally, I am looking forward to creating more infographics next year. Instead of just using Canva, I plan to learn how to utilize Photoshop as well. Another goal is improving my creative writing skills by being more expressive.
After moving into the leadership position of Creative Editor in the later part of this year, my duties did not expand that much. However, as a senior I am hoping to take on more responsibilities like running the A&E section and being more proactive with infographics.
To read more from The Feather, go to Photo reflections from, Aubrey Graham or Softball Senior Night 2022.
Silva Emerian • Jun 1, 2022 at 10:42 am
Yeah Summer! It’s been so exciting watching you grow through your responsibilities with The Feather. It’s been an awesome year and I know next year will be even better. I’m cheering you on every step of the way and I’m so proud of how far you’ve come!