David Allegri:  Inter-staff relationships during my time on Harbinger have proved to teach me more than just journalistic skills

Maggie Kissick | The Harbinger Online

As my fellow staffers reminisce about deadline dance parties, stressful writing competitions or staying up until 2 a.m. to finish stories, there’s one thing that made my Harbinger experience unique  — inter-staff relationships.

When I initially joined Harbinger, I wanted to improve my skills as a writer and learn how to become well-versed in social media and mass communications, but I’d be lying if I didn’t admit that I was also strongly influenced by my then-girlfriend who was on staff. 

My mom used to warn me when I was watching “The Office” that relationships in the workplace will never work out. While I thought we’d be the Jim and Pam of high school journalism, I quickly learned that the NBC show’s dynamics don’t translate as seamlessly as I’d hoped in real life. 

Within a month of being on staff, I had written three stories, designed a page and broken up with one girlfriend. For a whole semester I had to deal with many awkward conversations and glares that I felt deep in my soul. Luckily I outlasted her — she quit Harbinger the following semester.

After attempting to mix oil and water — Harbinger and girls — you would’ve thought I had learned my lesson, but as a now-single high school boy on a 90% female staff, it was unavoidable that there was more drama to come. 

The next semesters followed a similar pattern — what started as a conversation with a staffer at a deadline led to a situationship for the next month or two. My inherent “rizz” led to two awards at our end-of-year banquet for “The Most Rizz” and “The Most Likely to Leave Deadline for a Girl.”

Amid my 3-year long stint as the Harbinger bachelor, I was still able to walk away with valuable skills like writing a full length news story in under an hour, taking cutthroat criticism from Tate and navigating the digital design labyrinth of Adobe. But to my mom’s  — and my editors’ — inevitable dismay, I’m talking about my Harbinger love life.

So to sum up my time on Harbinger, I’ve written 43 stories, won eight journalism awards, had four on-staff situationships, two ex-girlfriends and three years of the most exciting, life-changing class that I’ve ever been a part of  — and I wouldn’t change a thing.

2 responses to “David Allegri:  Inter-staff relationships during my time on Harbinger have proved to teach me more than just journalistic skills”

  1. Anonymous says:

    nice!

  2. I enjoyed reading this—great work!

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