Typing, deleting, typing again. Is a repeated process as I contemplate where to start my very last post as a high school student. My last post as the Editor-in-chief. My last post as a Feather journalist.
Figuring out how to relive my Feather moments has me at a state of writer’s block, maybe as a way of trying not accept my time with the best team, editors, advisor, and writing coach is over.
I have spent 13 years on a FCS campus. This is the place where I met my lifelong friends. The place I experienced silly childhood crushes. The place where I experienced my weird middle school phase. The place where I began to finally find myself. The place that holds 14,040 hours of my memories, laughs, worship, class traditions and inside jokes.
Those 13 years or 14,040 hours can be translated as 13.36% of my life. I spent 13.36% of my life on these campuses. 13.36% of my life IN the Eagle community. But never felt myself being APART of the community. The extent to which I was involved with our school community never went beyond the four walls of each classroom, the stairs of the building and the halls I’ve walked for years. I simply went to school. Learned, then went home. I was on track to leave our campus and the community no better than when I had first stepped on campus.
Junior year that changed. I joined The Feather.
I did not want to waste that 13.36%, those 14,040 hours. Being apart of the team for the past two years has created a feeling of actually being APART of the FC community. With every word typed and article published I left a mark. Big or small. I was now a contributing member on campus. Whether that be announcing sports schedules or summarizing world issues connecting students to events that seem irrelevant.
That is just the overarching picture of my time with The Feather but zooming into the intricate details that made up the last two years, my last 2% on
campus is a battle I’m not quite sure I’m ready to rush into.
Zooming in closer, the one thing that strings my Feather story together is the phrase “just do it.”
Sophomore year, my then AP U.S teacher, Kori James asked me to consider joining the team. All I remember about marking a 1 by “The Feather” on my junior year course request was just doing it. A few months later when it came to writing my first article about new teachers I remember just doing it. In September when it came to my first big interview with Officer Janette Olson, I just did it. Fast forward to August of my senior year, I was asked if I wanted to take on the responsibilities as Editor-in-Chief. Doubting my skills and leadership abilities I worried I wouldn’t live up to the expectations set by my predecessors. But in the end I just did it. I took that chance.
Experiences and tasks in The Feather sometimes require you to just do it. Put yourself out there. Make unexpected decisions and connections with people. With this in mind my encouragement for future Feather kids is just do it. Volunteer for the big articles. Take the initiative to email and get an interview with someone important. I know it’s scary but if its done well, bridges are being built that one day you may have to walk across. Take those chances.
Zooming in more, The Feather offered me more than just a place in a community I had grown up in and a foundation of a “just go for it” mindset. Through The Feather lab I was given a safe place to get to know myself. I was able to explore my opinions and standings and how to respectfully convey them in a way that did not shut other people down or facilitate tension. I had found my voice. The voice that I had been quieting for years to avoid agitating people. Learning to stand firm in my voice and the facts was a rocky journey, especially in my last year. When writing I was susceptible to allowing others perspective and agenda to dictate what I wrote and how I wrote it.
Looking back, I’ve learned that sometimes the agitation is worth what happens down the road. We have to push through the discomfort and discuss issues, in order to spread awareness and eventually reach progress. This lesson wasn’t something I came along by myself. I was encouraged to display my unfiltered, untainted voice (in a respectful manner).
With that said I would like to thank the woman who mentored me on that journey.
Dorina Gilmore Young, thank you for encouraging me to let others hear my voice. Without you and your unwavering support I would have never found MY voice. The voice of Miracle. I would have continued to follow anyone and everyone’s agenda. You have been mine and my voice’s biggest and loudest cheerleader in the journalism world and I will forever be thankful for you.
I would also like to thank my advisor and editors.
Mrs. James, thank you for seeing in me potential that I never would have reached or seen in myself without you. Your guidance and encouragement has helped me start building the ability to take a chance and put myself out there. Thank you.
To my editors, Meilani Gilmore-Young, Chloe McDonald, and Danielle Arndt. You are the most hardworking, diligent, intelligent group of young women.
I will forever have the joy of working and leading alongside this team. Each of you made the big scary title of Editor-in-Chief so much more plausible. Without you by my side all year long I would have never survived. Thank you for all the hard work you’ve each put in over the year. I love you all.
Dani, I am passing the Editor-in-Chief crown to you now. I know without a doubt that you will do amazing things and lead the team to unprecedented accomplishments. You may be small but your voice is loud and deserves to be heard. Just know I will always be here at any hour to listen to rants, give advice, or just talk. I am beyond proud of you and everything you will achieve.
Lastly I would like to thank the two beautiful souls that made stepping into the room worth it everyday. Mallory Friesen, I would not have survived my first year of The Feather without knowing I got to go through it with you. Your smile, loud laugh, and odd sense of humor became my favorite thing and kept my joy alive. Thank you for brightening all my days. Julia Castiglione, thank you for just being the beautiful, kind soul you are. If you ever need anything I am only a call away and will always answer.
On May 23 I will cross the stage and receive my diploma marking the end of not only high school years but my time as an FC Eagle. I will leave behind the campus that has watched me grow up and move on to a campus across the country.
2,804 miles away I will attend Howard University, where I will continue my education in Health Sciences. Although I am leaving behind my Feather days I hope to continue to be apart of the journalism world, being a journalist for Howard’s student newspaper, The Hilltop.
Logging off, Miracle.
To stay up to date with my new chapter follow my instagram @miracle_1246
For more senior columns, read Senior Reflection: Cole Blanchfield , or Senior Reflection: Meilani Gilmore Young
