Personal Narrative
Starting my high school experience, I was very confident in myself and what I would accomplish. Coming in as a freshman would be scary for anyone. When I first came to Indian Trail High School & Academy I was registered to be in the Communications Academy in the Digital Arts pathway. All the classes were starting off so good, but I always dreaded my second period. It was my Introduction to Digital Productions class. The things that we did were very fun and I have always loved design. But my teacher was walking up and down the aisle making sure that we were doing our work 24/7, I always felt like she was breathing down my neck and I always got anxious. After I left the classroom I was relieved, it was finally being able to breathe. I found out later on that you could either change your academic pathway or stay in general studies. I looked into the other pathway which was journalism and I loved it. So after my freshman year, I decided to switch pathways and it was the best decision of my life.
When I was little, I was always into taking photos and saving memories. I did not know what I was getting myself into when I decided to switch. The start of my sophomore year I was excited to start my new class with my new teachers. My third period was photojournalism. I was especially excited for this class because I knew we would be learning about law and ethics and how to use a camera. After talking all about the law and ethics, we were finally able to learn how to take pictures on the camera. My first pictures were a little rough, but everyone's always are.
My junior year I decided to join The Blaze yearbook, it was one of my best decisions. This is when I was able to actually learn how to write, interview and show what I can do design wise. My first design I did was the powder puff spread, it was a rough start choosing the pictures and what my secondary packages were going to be about. The Blaze participated in Walsworth Yearbook’s Elite Weekend training where they had mini lessons on design, writing, photography and much more. That gave me an idea on what I wanted to do with the powder puff spread. Having those mini lessons helped out with my powder puff secondaries. I did a mini story about how girls and guys switch roles. Also the result of who was in first, second and so on.
At this point we had taken in what the trainers said about our first cover design, the staff had a rough time choosing different colors for the cover. We had to start from scratch. We became more connected than ever before. When everyone was getting tired and somewhat giving up, I didn’t stop giving up on the staff and designing the cover. That’s when Brenna Jasnewski the 2023-24 Editor In Chief and Michelle Corbett my yearbook adviser had the idea to make me the 2023-24 Associate Editor. I took leadership roles from the start with our yearbook camp and Elite Weekend. I never wanted to give up on the staff or our cover.
After Elite Weekend it really gave me an insight on what I wanted to do from then on. I wanted to be able to help others and have others look up to me for help when they needed it most. Having leadership roles such as Editor-In-Chief has been a privilege.