As I look back at the last four years of high school, I realize how it’s had such a positive effect on me, especially the media program. 

Back in freshman year, I decided that I was going to be in sophomore journalism and it was one of the best decisions I made. In Sophomore Journalism I was able to get a sneak peek of what it is like to be in the media program and I truly fell in love with it. So for my junior and senior year, I joined the Viking Student Media class. 

All of my life I have been very into sports, so naturally, I focused on sports for most of the stories I did. I enjoyed the number of people that I was able to meet through sports writing, especially the coaches that also taught because they gave great quotes and were always very interesting. One of the main reasons I enjoyed the class so much was because Mrs.Coyer gave us the freedom to write what we wanted to write about and to be able to pitch our own ideas for monthly projects. I’m very proud of all the sports stories I’ve covered over the last two years, from the Holcomb dynasty to the State champion boys soccer team–I’ve covered it all. I’ve made many more connections with athletes at PHS because of journalism.

One of my favorite parts about our media program is that we are all constantly learning from one another; that’s one of the main ways we excel as a media program. Going into my senior year I knew I was going to have to step it up and help out the sports section as much as I could and I was lucky enough to get an awesome young group of kids that were motivated to write about sports. Throughout the whole year, we worked very hard together to cover as many sports stories as possible, and as I look back on it I’m proud of what we had accomplished. Every day we are finding new ways to get out the news that people should know. Adding the Sidelines on VNN and a couple of sports podcasts were just some of the things that we were able to add to our section this year that made it easier to give our audience more content. This is one of the only classes that I’ve had where I’m constantly working with other people. 

I have met so many people and heard so many amazing stories through journalism it’s been a life-changing experience. I have found a new form of respect for the journalists out there today. I only got a taste of what journalism really is and the hard work that they all have to go through. Even though I am not pursuing journalism in college it will always hold a special place in my heart with all of my staff members and adviser.