From Our May/ June Issue

By Devin Dubon

The ending is almost as hard as a beginning. To start something new—whether it be a class, a relationship, an assignment, or a goodbye letter—is a daunting task, fret with nervousness and anxiety. But, just as well, an ending is often filled with sadness and trepidation: the reluctance to have to start something new and unknown.

When I began high school, that anxiety pervaded me. I was thrown into a whole new world with unfamiliar people and I was forced to swim or drown. And for a long time, I drowned. Overwhelmed with the newness of it all, alone and anxious, I struggled. 

But as the natural progression of any new undertaking goes, the unknown becomes the familiar. With a strand change to journalism, I finally found my groove. All in one, I gained friends, a family, and a purpose. I found a reason to come to school every morning and met people who made that experience fun and enjoyable.

This paper gave me so much. It wasn’t all fun and games (although there were a lot of those). There was a lot more struggle and work that has come than most would expect, but it was all worth it. 

As a lot of people can tell you, writing is an escape and that certainly proved true for me. Being able to go out and interview anybody from a new freshman to a potential First Gentleman of the U.S., spending countless hours rephrasing and rewriting sentences to sound just how I want them, sitting for more than I would like to admit just trying to remember that one word that would fit perfectly—it all gave me a way to forget about any troubles I had, to just focus on the beautiful purity of telling a story as succinctly, accurately, and engaging as possible.

I was comfortable and, for the first time, I was happy. Every day brought a new adventure, my journey being brightened by the wonderful people along the way.