Bridget Connelly: Moving so much made it difficult for me to feel like I fit in, but joining Harbinger made me feel at home in Kansas

OMG obsessed, one sec.

Love that font!

I love!!!!

To others, these seem like basic teenage texts. To me, they’re my greatest pride and joy — texts I received from Harbinger editors during my sophomore year.

The “little things” — like kind texts — are deeply meaningful to me as I’ve grown up literally around the world, moving between places like Singapore and New York City for my dad’s job.

When my family settled in Kansas when I was in sixth grade, I can’t say I was excited. Maybe Dorothy and Toto wanted to be here, but I sure didn’t. 

After a mere two years, I was itching to get out. I hadn’t lived in a place for that long since third grade. No matter how many friends I had or how many memories I made, Kansas was still a flyover state — not a true home. As I grew up, I doubted my ability to ever find a place that felt like my home — until I joined The Harbinger.

Sophomore me loathed the amount of grueling work I was assigned when I first joined. I was up until 10:30 p.m. — a whole 30 minutes past my strict 10 p.m. bedtime — trying to lay out perfect pages, even though I’d never touched InDesign before.

My first design check-in was a massacure. The headline was at least 92-point size (we all know 80 is the maximum). I used colors that clashed with the photo on the page and packaged with nothing that even resembled a sidebar on the page. I thought quitting was my only option. 

But the people made it all worth it. Since then, I’ve found a second family within the award-covered walls in the J-room, and I can’t fathom not spending my sixth hour with these people. Every editor I’ve had has made me feel as if I could succeed — even if I was there were tears welling in my eyes when they talked to me in class. 

I was even a representive for The Harbinger during my vist to Indian Hills Middle School encouraging the next generation of designers to join and find their home.

I’ve loved every single moment in the J-room — even when I walk in and Tate yells at me about being stupid (note the spelling errors in this story so far — all real mistakes I’ve made on print pages. Sorry Tate!). I’ll always be grateful for finding my home on The Harbinger.