Hallie O’Bryan: Joining Harbinger helped me find a community after transferring to East my senior year

When I decided to join Harbinger second semester of my senior year, my family and friends were confused. I was met with questions like “Don’t you hate writing?” and “Why would you do it if you can’t put it on your college applications?”

I’d never had any interest in journalism and I hadn’t taken an art elective since sophomore year. But when spring semester applications came out, I decided to apply on a gut feeling I’d regret it if I didn’t. 

This was my last chance to see what all the “Harbie family” hype was.

Even though I joke with my parents that I only like Harbinger because of the free deadline dinners, I’ve learned so much about art and design and met amazing people. After transferring from St. Teresa’s my senior year, Harbinger helped me find a sense of community at East.

Fast forward to my first issue as an artist and page designer. I was supposed to learn how to work InDesign and navigate JDATA, but we just so happened to have the entire week off of school due to snow days— on top of that, I had no idea what I was doing. But lucky for me there wasn’t one person on staff who wasn’t willing to help me. I’m forever grateful for Addie, Bridget, Greyson and Katie for answering all the questions I bombarded them with during those two weeks.

However, once deadline hit I was able to calm down and enjoy the process a little more — I’d finished my page design and started to get into the swing of things. I had the best time making burn book-themed art for Lyla’s “Mean Girls” page and helping Lucy Stephens cover Modern Market Eatery’s influencer event.

Whether it was making slime with Addie and then teaching Greyson how to properly play with it, skateboarding around the J-Room with Molly or chatting with the underclassmen about their classes at writers deadline — I’ve made so many connections with people who I would’ve never met otherwise.  The thing I’ll remember most about Harbinger isn’t the pages I’ve designed or the cartoons I’ve made — it’s the unique experiences and people I’ve met that have made all of Tate’s brutal critiques worth it. Only the Harbinger staff could make selling ads at eight a.m. on a Saturday morning and staying at East late on Wednesday nights for fun. I’m so happy I decided to apply because I would’ve missed out on an amazing semester.